Run With Me
by RedCaprice
Summary: When Laurent finds Bella in the meadow he doesn't want to kill her. On a whim, he offers to take her with him and go find Edward.  Can he resist her blood? Will he bite her? Will they find Edward?  The story of a great friendship and self discovery.
1. Running

A/N: Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

This chapter at times runs a close parallel with the original New Moon, therefore, some dialogue is Stephenie Meyer's work.

Chapter 1: Laurent-Running

There was a certain freedom in running. Feeling the wind as it musses my hair, hearing it as it whistles past my sensitive ears. Feeling the warm dirt as it squishes up between my toes, it's a peculiar sensation. I love the fact that I can outrun anything that would dare chase me. It's much easier to think that you're running towards something, than away. Truth be told, I'm not sure what I'm doing right now.

I left Denali a few weeks ago. I tried to live their "vegetarian" life style but it wasn't for me. Drinking animal blood is like taking a drink of tea, expecting it to be sweet, but instead it's unsweetened and bitter. At the moment I feel like I'm running from the disappointment of my "slip-ups." Personally, I'm not disappointed, but Irina was and I'm not sure what I could deal with an eternity of animal blood to be with her. I'm not sure she's my mate. They say you'll know when you find her, but I just don't.

I've run this earth for two and a half centuries, I've seen the way vampires love. Sometimes it's a love of convenience. Victoria loved James, I'll never know why. But James's love for Victoria? That's more like what I mean, I never once heard him tell her he loved her first. It was always in response to her own declaration. He confided in me one day when she was away hunting that if Victoria didn't have a talent for evasion, she wouldn't be around still.

Then there's love that transcends all reasoning. Love like Edward's love for Bella, and Bella's ability to love him back. It just astounded me. Some much can be said for their love. I think that is the other part of why I'm running. I guess I just want to see how Bella is adjusting as a vampire. When I left the Olympic Coven after warning them of James, I never heard anything more from them. I didn't think too much of it, what's a year in the span of eternity?

The day I left Denali, I had told Irina that I just needed to go for a run and that I'd be back. By now I'm sure she knows I wont be back for a while. If I come back. Maybe in a few years I'll give the vegetarian life style another go. Maybe I wont. I'm as indecisive as a woman right now. For now, I'll keep running. I just past a sign "Welcome to Ontario". I hadn't realized I was so far east so I turned back west, decidedly heading towards Forks again.

"Welcome to Manitoba"

"Welcome to Saskatchewan"

"Welcome to Alberta"

I just kept running. Wind in my hair, dirt between my toes.

"Welcome to British Colombia"

I would need to hunt soon. I could make it to the Cullen's first, see what's there for me. Maybe there have room for another vampire in their coven, Maybe it would be nice to just stop and take a shower. Maybe they can tell me how the fight with James turned out, after all, he was severely outnumbered. I never did hear back from either James or Victoria, I can only assume they killed them. Maybe it would be nice to live somewhere permanently. Maybe they would accept me the way I am. Maybe, maybe, maybe...

"Welcome to The United States of America"

I was so lost in my thoughts of maybe as I passed the sign, it was comical how the "Welcome to Washington" sign was nearly right behind the first sign. I forgot how wet it is here. And green. I've never seen so many ferns in my lifetime. Or moss. As I passed a town called Ephrata, I began to feel my excitement build. I began to really feel like my running was for a reason. Like I'm running towards something.

And finally, "Welcome to Forks"

I decided to skirt the town on the way to the Cullen residence, after all, I was in need of a hunt and didn't want to slip in their territory. It wouldn't make a good impression.

You know, it's strange, you would think that there would be more vampire trails with permanent vampire in the area. I had to go off of memory to get to the Cullen mansion.

When I arrived in the long drive, I couldn't hear a thing. Maybe they were all out on a hunt. I walked up to the porch and decided to sit on the steps, but changed my mind. I walked around the house to see where their trails led off to, maybe I could find them. I circled the entire house, there were no trails. Very strange. As I walked around the front, I did pick a scent... Bella. But it was a human scent. I thought for sure that Edward would change her after such a run in. Maybe they ran with her. That would make sense.

Well, if they weren't here I might as well hunt. I started to head north a few miles. I loved the way the wet air smelled here, it was fresh. I reminded me of the French country side of my youth, all it needed was the subtle scent of baking bread. I took a deep breath a caught a scent that surprised me beyond words.

Bella.

Ahead was a meadow filled with the sounds of someone gasping. As I approached the tree line, I saw her kneeling with her hands fisted in the grass and it was heartbreaking. I watched her for several moments, it felt wrong. I felt like a voyeur to her pain and it was obvious to me why she cried. She rolled so that she was laying down and she curled into a ball. In that minute, her misery was my own. Where were the Cullens? Where was her Edward? How could he leave her?

When she started to stand again, I stepped through the tree line and intentionally stepped on a twig so that she could hear me approach. She stared at me for the longest time then finally spoke.

"Laurent!" She sounded pleasantly surprised.

"Bella?" I guess the human memory wasn't as weak as I imagined. We'd only met once before and she remembered me.

"You remember." I grinned, and truthfully I was happy to see her. But I was sad to see her so sad. It was a strange way to feel, certainly a new feeling.

"I didn't expect to see you here." And I definitely did not expect to find her human.

"Isn't it the other way around? I do live here. I thought you'd gone to Alaska." I stopped walking. I cocked my head. Beyond her look of pain there was momentarily a flash of trust. The love of her life was a vampire, naturally she would not initially fear me.

"You're right, I did go to Alaska," if I decided not to kill her, to put her out of her misery, there would be plenty of time to explain. "Still, I didn't expect... When I found the Cullen place empty, I thought they'd moved on."

"Oh." Was all she managed before tears streaked down her cheeks. So, I was right, and she confirmed it:

"They did move on."

"Hmm. I'm surprised," shocked, upset, angry, a little sad, "they left you behind." She was broken, but she was beautiful. In that moment I didn't want to kill her anymore, I wanted to hug her. What's with these new feelings today? They weren't romantic, but in the way a big bother would console a little sister.

But in that moment she took a unconscious step backwards. No, now would not be the time to offer that brotherly hug. I almost laughed at the thought.

"Do they visit often?" I asked as I took another step.

"No." She answered curtly.

"So how are things working out in Denali? Carlisle said you were staying with Tanya?"

I wondered if she were just trying to change in subject, or if she was truly interested.

"I liked Tanya very much, and I liked Irina even more, but she liked me even more than that, so I had to leave." Why am I pouring my heart out to this little human girl? Aren't I supposed to be eating her? Wait, aren't I supposed to be giving her that brotherly hug? Yeah, indecision.

"Maybe he left because I loved him more than he loved me." She concluded with sad eyes.

I knew for a fact that he loved her and there was no humanly way possible that she loved him more than he loved her. No humanly way.

"You want to do something crazy?" I asked before I had any chance of censorship.

"You're not going to eat me, are you? Because I'm supposed to making dinner tonight." If she had to make dinner tonight, what I was about to suggest would indeed be crazy.

"I think I'll spare you." I said with a grin.

"You miss him right?"

She just looked at me while a fat tear rolled down her cheek. Of course she missed him.

"I'll tell you what, I'm looking for an adventure. Let's go find your Edward, I know that he still loves you. I know that it sounds crazy, but I want to help you." I never expected her to give in, I never even expected her to consider it. She would think I'm crazy, she'd tell me no, and I wouldn't even kill her for it. But she surprised me, I bet she always took people by surprise.

"Let's do a trial run, take me to my truck and see if you don't kill me." She took slow steps toward me.

"I wont kill you," I smiled, "Climb on."

I knelt down so that she could climb on my back. I did say I wouldn't kill her, I really wish I would have said I'll try not to. She was so warm and she smelt really good, floral. I had never been this close to a human that I didn't intend to kill. Once she was situated, I took off running and I followed her trail to her truck. I think she knew that's what I was doing because she said:

"You're such a vampire." I had to laugh.

We arrived at her truck a minute later. It was really old. I really imagined her to be more of a coup kind-of-girl, maybe an Audi.

"So... I didn't kill you."

"You know, I spent all morning hiking up there."

"You're such a human." She smiled and I realized that I had never seen her smile before.

"So," Bella began, "I'm on this kick lately where I do dangerous things but... I do really need to go home and cook dinner. As fun as today was just now, I'm not really sure I should do something so drastic."

"I'll tell you what, think about it, go home, make dinner, and just think about it. Because I'm going to go find your Edward and kick the shit out him for leaving you, and I really would like you to come with me. So just think about it."

"Okay."

"If you decide to come with me, pack a bag and meet me out front after your dad goes to bed."

"I'll give it some thought." She said as she turned to get in her truck.

I followed her truck back to her house to make sure she got there safely and then I left to hunt.

Oh, the internal debate! Should I hunt a human or an animal? Potentially, I could be spending the next couple of months with a human. If I hunted a human it might upset her, but if I hunted an animal, would I be strong enough to resist her? In the end I found a deer, and wondered, is Bella worth the bitter blood of an animal.

Maybe.

I made my way back to her house and waited in the tree across the street from her house and waited to see if she would come out.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment or PM.


	2. Falling

Chapter 2: Bella-Falling

My life was just spiraling downward. He was gone. He said 'take care of yourself' and I agreed although I'm not sure why or how I could promise that. What was there left to take care of? He took my heart with him, he was my reason to breathe. Maybe it would have been more fair for me to ask that he take care of my heart. There's always something you could have said.

At this rate, it might have been to refreshing to hit rock bottom. I might stand a chance of finding a way of climbing out, but still, I am falling. I thought maybe if I had Jacob, sunshine personified, I could cope; but with his sudden rejection of me from his life, I was even more acutely aware of how far I had yet to fall.

How is it that falling in love is effortless and beautiful? It breathes life into you. Yet the fall from love is a gut-wrenching, soul-shattering trip? I knocks the wind out of you.

Even the loss of my best friend was enough to have me screaming myself to sleep and clutching my sides to keep myself together.

There really is too much time to think when you're hiking. Especially when you have no one to talk to, thanks Jacob. When I stepped through the tree line of that perfectly circular meadow it took me by surprise, I must have been lost in my thoughts. Not even the low branches snagging my hair distracted me.

I took in the sight around me. Sure, it was beautiful, but this place held nothing for me and was nothing without him. The disappointment crushed me, my knees buckled and I had no choice but to kneel to the ground, to clutch the grass as if it were the only thing that held me to this earth, the only thing that held me to my sanity.

The waves of pain washed over me before I had any hope of holding them back. Before I knew it, I was curled in a ball. Maybe this is rock bottom. I wasn't sure I wanted anything to hold me here anymore, and I wasn't sure I had my sanity as I saw a figure step into the meadow opposite of me. He was tall, with dark hair, bergundy eyes, ripped jeans and button down dark green shirt. The following conversation and interactions with Laurent was surprising, then terrifying, then exhilarating.

And then hopeful? Could I really take him up on his offer? Could I just leave? And with a vampire that I'd only met once before, who may or may not eat me. Would that really be worse than my current situation? Heartbroken, what's the worst that could happen?

But what about Charlie? Aside from it being a crazy idea, Charlie was the only reason I really needed to think about it.

Why is it when you have a lot on your mind, that you end up at your destination that much quicker? The thought crossed my mind as I pulled in my driveway. Charlie was already back from fishing. It was later than I thought.

"Bella?" Charlie called as I walked in the door.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Where have you been?"

I surmised from the ominous look on his face that he knew that I wasn't at the Stanley's today as I said I would be. I decided to stick with the truth.

"I was hiking," I admitted.

"I thought I asked you to stay out of the forest." He was starting to look angry.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

I was a little upset that my last night at home I disappointed my dad. If I was being honest with myself, I had already decided to go. The agonizing part was figuring out how I would say goodbye to Charlie without him knowing it was a goodbye.

I started to make dinner. I wrapped the potatoes in foil and placed them in the oven and then pulled the cutting board out and starting trimming the fat off the steak. After I put the steaks in the oven I decided to go up and take a shower. Who knew when I'd get a chance to take another?

As I stepped out of the shower the smoke alarm went off. I threw the towel around me and ran down to the kitchen to find Charlie pulling the steaks out of the oven. I was comforted that maybe he might be willing to use the stove after all.

I trudged back upstairs to get dressed. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. Just as I opened the door, I turned around and put my PJ's on. I didn't need Charlie being suspicious.

"You know, Bells, it's kind of early." He said as he gestured to my blue PJ bottoms with the clouds on them.

"I know, but I'm not going anywhere. I just want to curl up and finish my calculus homework." My heart clenched at I blatantly lied. I would not be doing math, and I was not staying. I tried to keep a smile on my face, tried everything in my power to keep from displaying any behavior that may betray my intentions of leaving.

As I cleaned up after dinner I thought about the things I would need to take with me. I always could pack light. A pair or two of jeans, a flannel shirt or two. I wondered what the weather would be like where we would be. Definitely my hairbrush and some socks. I would need money.

It occurred to me that I should write my father a letter. It would be my goodbye. I spent the rest of the time washing thinking about what I wanted to say.

I finished with the dishes and went to my room to start my letter. I would have time to finish it before Charlie went to bed.

_Dad,_

_I sorry that what I'm about to do will hurt you, but I have to leave._

I stared at the paper for the longest time. It really sunk in that I would be hurting him. I would be leaving him the same way my mom did. But what else could I do? He wasn't happy with my sitting around here being heartbroken.

So I continued:

_I'm leaving because I need to time to set things straight, to get my heart together. I'm sorry I couldn't be stronger._

_You are a great dad and I love you very much. I don't intend of staying away forever, just a while. A few years at the most. Please don't look for me. I promise you wont find me. I can't tell you where I'm going, I'm not sure myself. _

_Please tell Renee that I love her very much and that she did nothing wrong. Neither did you. Please don't be mad at me._

_I promise to take care of myself, now please do the same for me. Take care of yourself. Eat everyday, live your life, and please, please don't worry about me._

_I love you,_

_Bella_

This was officially the hardest letter to write. Maybe I shouldn't go. But maybe I'll find him, I really do need to go.

Just as I finished, my dad peaked his head in my door to say goodnight, unknowingly to say goodbye. I closed my notebook and got off my bed. I felt myself wanting to tear up but I battled to tears. A few more minutes, I told myself. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed him.

"I love you, Dad."

"I love you, too, Bells. Goodnight." He patted my back and then left to go to bed.

After he closed the door I whispered, "Goodbye."

And I let the tears fall. Through my blurry haze , I emptied my school books out of my bag and began filling it with my jeans and shirts that I already decided on. I gathered together some socks and undergarments and my brush. I had that feeling that I was forgetting something, you know, that same feeling that you always get when you're packing. But what else was there? Oh, and some money. I'd grab some money out of the grocery jar then next time I went downstairs.

I heard Charlie snores start. That was my cue. I grabbed my bag and made my way downstairs. I looked around one last time and then stepped out the front door.

I left my keys by the door, I wouldn't need them. I stepped down the porch steps and just as was about to sit I heard the rustling of trees and Laurent suddenly appeared in front of me.

"You've decided to come!" He exclaimed.

I noticed in that moment his eyes were brighter, but not because of the color. He seemed to be truly thrilled to have a traveling partner.

"You do realize that you're going to be carrying me, right?" I had to ask to make sure.

"Ha, I'd like to see you try to outrun me!"

"Are you ready to get going?"

"Actually, do you mind if I use your shower?"

His request took me by surprise. But I figured why not? I turned around and headed back into the house and although I did not hear him following I knew he was. I led him upstairs and showed him to the bathroom and set him out a towel. I was about to step out of the bathroom when he grabbed my arm.

"Will you stay in here with me?" What an odd thing to ask. I stayed on the logic that I was doing a lot of crazy things today.

He began stripping and I turned around because it was a little uncomfortable. When he turned on the shower and stepped in I finally turned around and sat on the edge of the sink.

"I ran here from Ontario," he told me, "unless you count the rain, I haven't showered since I left Denali."

"How long ago was that?"

"Three weeks ago." He peaked his head out and asked, "Is this the soap you use?"

I nodded.

"Put it in your bag."

I wondered if he gave me something to do because of how uncomfortable I seemed. I grabbed the wet bar of soap and went downstairs to find a plastic baggie to put it in. That's when I realized that I didn't set the note out for my dad. I put the soap in its new bag and then went back upstairs to pack it away. I quickly found the notebook with the letter in it and reread it once again.

There is a naked vampire in my shower and I'm about to run away with him. I giggled to myself if only to fight the deeper emotions that I was feeling.

I folded the letter in thirds and scrawled 'DAD' across the front. I place it on the center of my bed.

Laurent was leaving the bathroom as I was leaving my bedroom.

"Here," he tossed me a roll of toilet paper, "stick this in your bag."

I stared at him incredulously.

"What? You think we're going to stop and find a nice toilet every time you have to go?"

He asked seriously, but then he cracked a smile.

"You're going to need some food, I don't know how often you eat, oh, and some water," he rambled on.

"I've never done anything like this before, I'm going to need a few more minutes to get those things." I was feeling a little flustered.

"That's ok, I'll just look around. I never get to see the insides of human houses."

"Um, make yourself at home?" I said as he wandered over to the mantle.

"Look how awkward you were growing up, but you're beautiful now."

I blushed, "My feet never caught up, I still can't walk across a flat surface without tripping." I laughed at myself and he let out a low chuckle.

I don't know why, but I felt comfortable with Laurent. It was beyond reason and explanation but I was starting to feel as if maybe I could begin to climb out of the hole I fell into.

"Are you all packed and ready to go?" He asked.

"You know, I think I am ready." And I was.

With that we left.


	3. On a Whim

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

oooooooooo

Chapter 3: Laurent-On A Whim

Did you ever do something on a whim? Just out of the blue? In the last week, I've been uncharacteristically erratic. Just call me Mr. Capricious. I've never felt at such a crossroads in all my time alive. Usually whenever one door closes another one is already open, but when I left Denali I closed the door behind me literally and figuratively with nothing but nothing in front of me.

So I was now running with a human on my back. It's sounds so crazy, even to me and I've been running for the last two days.

Bella was a lot of fun. It all really started about an hour outside of Forks when Bella tapped my shoulder.

"I'm getting tired."

I wonder how much humans needed to sleep. And was she about to fall asleep during the best time of the day?

"I can switch you around to the front and carry you if you want. I figure you want to get pretty far away as soon as possible." I saw the police car in front of her house, and you know what police do? They investigate and follow. Ha! Or at least they try. Still, it couldn't hurt to get out of dodge.

"That's fine," she said sleepily.

I stopped and took the bag from her and put it on my own bag and picked her up again. She was tiny, and she was even tinier than the last time I saw her. Being lovesick didn't sit well with her.

She nuzzled her forehead into my shoulder and said, "You know, you're not the first vampire I've snuggled up to."

I laughed. Before I knew it, she was asleep. Damnit, what is the point of having a traveling partner if they were going to be asleep half the time? No one to talk to.

And then it happened, she started talking in her sleep.

"Ice cubes..."

Maybe she thinks I'm cold, of course I'm cold to her. I should hold her away from my body a little. I started to push her away but her breathing changed and she clutched at my shirt.

"Don't leave me," she was still asleep. I might really have to kick Edward's ass for leaving her.

"Shhh... It's ok, I'm staying." With that, she nuzzled her face back into my shoulder but still had a death grip on my shirt.

Everything else she said was just funny, no more sad. She talked all night until about two hours before sunrise.

"No breadcrumbs..."

~o~x~o~x~o~

We ran that entire first day. She told me about her letter to her father as she chewed on a granola bar. Did she really think her father would just not look for her because she asked? they only person that stood a chance of finding us was another vampire. I could see in her eyes how much it hurt her that she was hurting her father, but to her, missing Edward was worse.

"So what's the plan?" She asked as she stuffed her granola bar wrapper in bag.

The plan. See this is why I'm not the most spontaneous kind of guy. They was no plan.

"I'm not sure." She raised her eyebrows at me.

"You're not sure? You were staying in Denali for the last year, right? Weren't the Cullens close with the Denalis? Why wouldn't they have told them that they..." She trailed off. She was still uncomfortable talking about them, as she call them.

"I don't know. Maybe if they knew, they didn't tell me."

"Why don't we try to contact them? Maybe just a phone call?" She suggested. "What state are we in anyway?"

"Hell if I know," I retorted. "Ready to get going again, we have a pay phone to find." I slung her up on my bag and I was running again.

We were running about twenty minutes when she started slipped and I made to scoot her back up again when I found out that she was ticklish.

This was going to be fun.

I ran a finger down the back of her calf.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" She pleaded.

"I'm going to find out where else you're ticklish."

"That's what you think," She said as she squirmed.

"What are you going to do? Run from me?" I teased.

A few minutes later we came up on a gas station with a pay phone. Technology has changed so quickly and pay phones were getting harder and harder to come across.

Bella went inside to get a bottle of water and change.

"Well, we're in South Dakota." She informed me as she handed me the change.

I picked up the phone dialed a number that I knew, but had never actually called before. It rang twice.

"Hello?" Tanya answered.

"It's Laurent."

"Where the hell are you? You just left? Irina been a mess, you sorry piece of shit! I haven't seen her this upset for five hundred years!" she fumed at me and I let her, I probably could have handled my departure a little better.

From the background I heard Irina, "Is that him? I need to talk to him."

"No, Tanya, I don't want to speak with Irina right this moment. I called to ask you about the Cullens. Where are they?

Silence.

"They're in Forks." I knew that she knew it was a lie.

"No, they're not. I went there."

"Why did you go there?" Tanya asked in a small voice.

"To find Bella."

She gasped. I guess she assumed the worst.

"Why didn't you tell me that the Cullens left Forks?" Bella flinched as I said it.

"We didn't tell you because I didn't trust you. Irina wanted to tell you, she had faith in you. Fat load of good it did her-"

"Anyways," I interrupted her rant.

"Anyways," she continued, "The Cullens left last September after Jasper tried to bite Bella. They came here for a week afterwards but you and Irina were on an, ahem, extended hunting trip."

"So where did they go after that?"

"First tell me if Bella is okay, did you see her?"

"Bella's fine." Then I mouthed to Bella, 'Don't worry'.

"The Cullens went to Ithaca, New York."

"She'll taste good, too." I said as I hung up.

Bella had a horrified look in face. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not going to eat you."

"Why did you say that?"

"I figure if word gets back to the Cullens that 'I'm after you,'" I used air quotes, "then they'll rush back to Forks, and there you go! It will be easy to find 'em then."

"I don't want to go back to Forks." She said as she started to clutch her sides.

"Come here," and I motioned with hand. She kicked off the wall and I threw my arm around her. "It's okay, we're going to Ithaca first."

~o~x~o~x~o~

Being around Bella was killing my throat. I had just hunted a few days ago, granted it was a deer, but still. I felt like a newborn again. I would have to hunt soon. I brought it up with her and she suggested that I drop her off at a hotel and she could shower and get a decent night's sleep. It sounded like a good plan.

We checked into a hotel in Indiana. It was starting to get sunny out so I staying in the room until sunset. We just sat on the bed Indian-style and just talked.

"I used to be clumsy, like you, when I was a human. I can't tell you how many times I fell down the stairs of my family's farmhouse. Honestly, I really don't remember much else of my time as a human other than that. My mother would make bread and my father tended to the animals on the farm. We had cows and we would sell the milk to the villagers.

Mother used to send me out with the milk jugs, but I would trip so often that she stopped assigning me the job." I laughed at the memory.

"When were you born?"

"I was born in 1755 in Lyon, France. It was mostly rural back then, but now it's a big city. I haven't been there in a few decades."

"Wasn't that around the time of the French revolution?"

"I was just being able to control myself by the time that all went down. Thirst changes you, it changes how you view things. War isn't something that I felt concerned me anymore. I couldn't even tell you what we were revolting against."

"I'm curious, do you think in French or in English?"

"You know, I thought you would have a lot of vampire-related questions, but I guess you got all those out of the way, huh?" She nodded, "Well, it really depends on who's talking to me, what language they're speaking. I don't know, I never really thought about it."

"Ha! I stumped you!" She declared triumphantly.

"Did you want to be a vampire when you were with Edward?"

She was suddenly lost in her thoughts. I felt like a jerk for bringing him up. I had never really been around someone who lost their mate.

"Only if I could have him; forever doesn't mean a thing without him." She said through tears. She put the heels of her hands over her eyes and sobbed. "I just want him." She continued to sob for a few minutes and then asked, " You said you knew that he loved me, how can you know?"

"Because vampires don't fall out of love. And if he didn't love you, he would have killed you. You smell too good to pass up."

"He might as well have killed me when he left." She wiped a tear away from her cheek, "It doesn't matter anyways, he told me he wouldn't have made me a vampire. This is all just a waste of time."

"I'll bite you." Huh? I surprised myself.

"No, I told you, I don't want it without Edward." She insisted.

"What about me?"

She furrowed her brows at that.

"What I mean is that I like you a lot and I'd like you to stick around."

Bella's eyes widened as she slightly shook her head in confusion. I felt the need to clarify.

"Just as friends," I said quickly and then continued. "I just... I never felt so protective over someone, almost brotherly."

I earned a small smile.

"I don't know, let me think about it?" She said, not at all sounding convinced.

"That's okay, you think while I hunt." I reached out and patted her hand. I stood to leave but she stopped me and stood up with me.

"Um... thanks for caring."

I took a step closer, "May I?"

She nodded and I wrapped my arms around her gently.

I immediately became aware that I should be hunting, not standing around hugging a the only human I liked. I ground my teeth as her scent swirled around me. I pulled back from her.

"Thanks, I needed that."

I glanced at the door, not wanting to talk or breath.

"I know you're in pain, you should go."

I nodded quickly as venom coated my teeth and ran for the door. I would not kill Bella.

What would I be killing tonight? Animal blood didn't seem to last. If I was honest with myself, I knew Bella might be upset if I killed a human.

I decided to let my instincts guide me, knowing it was the wrong choice, but Bella would understand, she was so understanding. I would go out to the forest on the outskirts of town and if there was a stray hiker maybe it would be fate.

I silently thanked fate as a tall man with long hair braided down his back rode his bicycle near where I was perched in a tree. I really did see him before I saw that bear. Really.

I leapt from the tree and landed right in front of the guy and I stopped his bike.

"Don't mess with me, man, I have a gun," he said as he patted his side.

I could only smile.

"I'm going to kill you." It was sick but I did like to have a little conversation with my dinner.

He pulled out his gun and shot me, tried to shoot me in the stomach. It ricocheted off of me and landed right into his own stomach.

The scent of blood filled the air and I took a deep breath. Right before I complete lost myself to vampire, I knew I needed to savor this one. Who knew when my conscious would permit me to do this again. I grabbed the man's wrist and latched on. I loved that first feeling of sinking my teeth in. I took a deep draw from his left wrist and then moved to the right so that I could bite again, and then moved to his neck and finished him off.

It was beyond satisfying. But it was time to face the music...

oooooooooo

Thanks for reading. Feel free to review or PM.


	4. Spotted

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Chapter 4: Bella-Spotted

I was doing a thorough job of wearing down the carpet in the hotel room. I paced and paced after Laurent left. I really should be sleeping. As if I could! Laurent said he felt _brotherly_ towards me. What does that even mean? My mind would not shut off. Although I did have things I really needed to sort out, I decided to put it out of my mind and order room service.

I called the front desk to request a menu but was informed that the kitchens closed at eight.

It was about ten o'clock at night.

"There's a Waffle House next to the hotel and they offer a discount to guests," said the man from the front desk.

I wanted to shower before going out, it had been days. It was embarrassing that I had dirt behind my ears. What is it about hotel showers and their weak water pressure? I rebuked myself, I should be grateful for the things I have. The hot water was a stark contrast with being so close to Laurent in the past few days. In my relaxed state, I could see what he meant. I felt quite protected around him. There was a certain comfort in being close. I suspect it was just as simple as the temperature of his skin. But we had such easy conversations and we teased one another... like brother and sister.

I laughed out loud as I remembered him sliding one finger into my left shoe and tickling the sole of my foot this morning.

It felt weird to laugh so freely. I always felt like I couldn't relate to humans and but things were so easy with them. Maybe it was a vampire thing. Maybe it was a sign that I should give more thought to becoming a vampire. I should at least consider it. Was love the only reason to live forever? What about love for friends? It's not like Edward wont be around and I'd be fast enough to follow him.

I nearly talked myself into it by the time I finished getting ready to go to the Waffle House.

I finished by pulling my wet hair into a messy bun and was on my way to dinner.

"Hi honey, have a seat where ever you'd like," the older waitress said while she showed me to her section. She had short curly brown hair and a thick southern accent that seemed out of place for Indiana.

"Thanks. Could I please have a milk."

"Isn't it a little late to be out on a school night?" She asked as she looked at my face with scrutiny.

"Uh," I said, not sure what to say, "I'm just hungry, my dad isn't much of a cook." There, that wasn't a lie.

She returned with my milk and I ordered a large platter with the intention of taking some back for breakfast.

As my food was cooking I thought more. I wondered what Laurent was up to. It was a little intense earlier, sometimes I forget how difficult it is for him to be near me, especially when his diet isn't nearly as controlled. I really don't have a death wish. I would talk to him about trying to live off of animals.

That was another thing. If Laurent changed me, would he help me with my control around humans? That was one part of being a vampire I wanted no part of. Would he help me be committed to my choices? We would have to talk about that.

"Can I get you anything else, dear?" The waitress asked, breaking me from my train of thought. It was times like this that I was happy that other people couldn't hear my thoughts. How crazy would that sound? Debating on whether or not to become a vampire.

Maybe it was just that: crazy.

Back to square one. Who knew what I would tell Laurent. Well, I didn't have to tell him anything right now, anyways.

"Could I get a to-go box?"

"Sure, be right back."

I was just finishing my eggs and hash browns when I saw someone from across the restaurant point at the television.

"Hey, turn that up," the patron said.

My waitress climbed up onto a chair and punched the buttons a few times until the T.V. was blaring.

_"...she's been missing for a few days now, her father said she left a note and disappeared. Her truck still sits at her family's home behind me," _the reporter motioned to my dad's house in Forks, _"Police dogs have been searching for her, but aren't picking up a trace. She's just disappeared."_

By this time, I was already putting enough money on the table so that I could just bolt.

_"Her father, the Chief of Police here in Forks, Washington, spoke at a press conference earlier today," _the image cut to a split-screen of my last yearbook photo on the left and my father speaking on the right of the screen, _"If anyone knows the whereabouts of Bella Swan, please call the F.P.D. Hot line. You can leave anonymous tips. Bella, if you're seeing this, please come home... just please!" _and then he broke down crying and couldn't continue.

I wanted to cry, but I didn't have the luxury of being upset at this time. My waitress was staring at me, comparing me to the old yearbook photo. Then she was approaching me, her eyes darting back and forth between my face and the T.V. She was shaking.

"B...Bella?" She asked.

"Um, no," my eyes were wide as I shook me head slowly. I needed to get out of here. I grabbed my toast and ran out the door.

"Wait!" The waitress called, "What about your father?" Then she turned to a coworker as the door was closing, "Hey, call that number, it's her!"

Great, now I'd have to really run!

I ran through the lobby of the hotel and up to my room. I was vaguely aware that I was probably on video camera somewhere. That can't be good. I rushed into my room. Once I was in the room, I closed the door behind me and let my tears fall. My father was in serious pain. Charlie was not a man to cry.

Guilt consumed me. How could I run away? How was this the best case scenario?

And where was Alice? Shouldn't she have seen any of this? Maybe she just didn't care after all.

"Why are you crying?" a voice asked in the darkness making me nearly jump out of my skin. Quickly, the lights flicked on and it was Laurent.

"I didn't think you'd be back so soon," I said through my tears. "We need to go, I saw my face on the news, and my father, too. So did the employees at the Waffle House next door. They're calling the authorities." I started to throw my things back into my bag.

I looked at him for the first time since entering the room and was shocked at what I saw: bright burgundy eyes.

I gasped.

"Laurent, you didn't! I thought you were trying to live off animals! Was it a slip?"

I needed to get out of here, but did I want to go with a vampire who was suseptible to slipping?

"No... I... it wasn't a slip, Bella, I was so thirsty! Please understand!" He pleaded.

I didn't know what to think. Although part of me was relieved that he hadn't slipped, as I said before, it wouldn't work out so well for me. What was the right thing to do?

"You killed someone! If you were so thirsty, how did you resist me? You know how?

Because you wanted to! That person had a family!" I yelled at him.

He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. His head snapped to the door and he started pulling back the curtains in the room.

"Come on, the authorities are on their way," he jerked his thumb towards the door.

Just then there was pounding on the door.

"Bella Swan, open up! The hotel staff is opening the door," the voice boomed through the door. Fear struck me, where were going to go now? The door would be blocked.

Laurent already had other ideas...

He grabbed my bag and threw it over his back and scooped me up. He kicked the window out, breaking the glass. I ducked my head into his chest as he jumped through the fifth story window. Right as we cleared the window I looked up and saw the police were opening up the door. They must have seen us.

"You can't just expose us!" I screeched when we landed at the bottom.

"I had to jump! You're a runaway, and I'm a murderer."

"Yeah, I noticed," I said with a scathing tone.

~o~x~o~x~o~

We ran for a few hours. He would occasionally look down at me, but would look right back up again with he saw that I noticed. I wondered what he was thinking.

"I really tried, you know," he finally said.

"Hmpf."

"How would you feel is someone told you that you could have all the salty food you wanted, but nothing sweet; no dessert?" He asked.

"I don't really like sweets," I replied.

"You're being difficult!" He looked frustrated. "What about chocolate? What's your favorite food?"

Why was I bickering with the only person that's stood by me recently. He could have just as easily jumped out that window and left me behind.

I considered forgiving just this once, after all I had forgiven Edward easily when I found out about his "rebellious years" and not only that, I never judged him.

"I like fruit." I said finally, showing my concession.

"Well, suppose someone told you eating fruit was wrong, what if someone asked you never to eat it again?" He challenged.

I really did have sympathy for him and at the moment he did seem remorseful. Furthermore, I knew that it was painful for him to be close.

"How about this, as long as your with me, I wont eat fruit if you don't hunt humans." I bargained.

"When you become a vampire, you'll see how hard it is. I've been drinking human blood for 250 years, it's hard to stop." He seemed lost in a thought. It hadn't escaped me that he didn't really acknowledge my agreement. It also didn't escape my notice that he assumed I would one day be a vampire.

"I thought about the whole vampire thing..." I trailed off not sure what to say next. I mulled it over for a few minutes.

"I don't want to be a killer. That's what I'm most worried about," I confided my fears in him. "If this is something I decide that I want, will you help me with not killing humans?"

"Yes," he answered simply.

I didn't know whether to feel relieved or to feel wary of his quick agreement.

"Have you ever bitten anyone before?" He knew what I meant.

"No, but I've never met anyone that I liked enough to commit to hanging around with during their newborn years. I'm usually more of a loner."

"Why do you want me to become a vampire so badly for anyways?" I still wanted to know.

"Because you're so pure, so innocent, understanding, funny, and accepting," he winked at me, "most of the time."

He poked me in my ribs and with that I think we were back to normal.


	5. Ithaca

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

ooooo

Chapter 5: Laurent- Ithaca

I'm usually more aware of my surroundings, I can't believe the police were able to sneak up on us. At a time when I should be at my most alert after I had just eaten, I was more concerned about Bella. It just threw me. She was right, of course, and I had all but exposed us to the humans. I didn't need the Volturi coming down on me. And because of the Volturi, Bella really didn't have a choice about being turned, it was an inevitability if she chose to avoid death.

She didn't know what she was asking for. She didn't know how hard it would be to resist the blood. I placated her and told her I would help her with her aversion to killing humans. I would try, but once she got the taste of human blood, it wouldn't be an issue anymore: problem solve. I would be an idiot to stand in the way of a newborn and blood.

I considered biting her in her sleep, but she still hadn't given me a final decision. Although, it would make finding Edward easier. I warred with my self as we ran towards Ithaca.

It's funny how I thought of it as 'us' running. If she were a vampire, we would be running.

I knew that Edward was against turning her, but she wanted him and he wasn't the only one that could change her, and for now, that's where my offer would stand unless she told me otherwise. _Sleep soundly, Bella, I wont be biting you tonight. _

About an hour after down she woke up.

"Good morning," she said groggily.

I was a rough night, she cried for her father in her sleep, she had said it wasn't fair and apologized to him. That was yet another thing she would give up if she became a vampire. It's funny how love could make you forsake everything.

I wasn't telling her to turn away from everything she knew, I just wanted her to know that I would give her the option if she wanted it and that Edward wasn't the only reason she should consider. I had told her that, right? Sometimes it's hard to express my thoughts in words. Did you ever fret over what to say, only to find that you'll never get the chance to say it? I would make sure she knew, but for now it just seemed like beating a dead horse. I didn't want to seem like I was pressuring her.

"So, where to next?" She asked.

"Ithaca, hopefully the entire coven, including you know who, will be there."

"Coven?" She half-asked in a questioning tone, "I guess I just never thought of them that way."

"It's not a bad thing. It is what it is."

After some time her stomach gurgled. I thought of the piece of toast that I threw from her hands as I ran through the night. That might have come in handy.

Don't judge me, it looked slimy.

"I threw your toast."

"That's okay, I think I still have another granola bar in my bag," she told me.

Then she giggled, "Want a bite?"

"Eh, I'll just have your leftovers," I joked, but sure enough, she left me a bite. I scowled at her.

"Please," she begged, "It'll be funny."

"Okay," and I took that last bit and brought it to my mouth and grinned down at her. I opened my mouth, but at the last minute I tossed it to the side.

"Cheater!" She said as we crosses the Pennsylvania state line.

This place had more cows than should be legal in any one geographical location. Farms, acres upon acres of grass to roam in. In a way, it reminded me of home.

_I remembered when I was little. I had few memories that remained solid but the one that came to mind right now was when my mother showed me how to milk the cows. I had just got a few inches of milk in the bucket when there was a loud noise that spooked the cow and it kicked over the bucket, spilling the contents._

_"Chomp, look what you did!" I yelled at the cow that I was allowed to name. _

_I later learned why you shouldn't name cows. They get slaughtered. That was another memory that ended similarly to this one. _

_I ran out behind the barn to where the hay was baled and slipped in between two piles and cried until my mother found me. _

_"Laurent, dear," my mother said softly as she bent down and held my chin in her hand, "sometimes life on the farm wont be easy, the cows will kick your milk bucket, they will kick you, you'll step in manure, but at the end of the day, you have to remember all of the good things that happened, too."_

_Although she had a hold of my chin, I didn't look at her. I wish I had because I can't remember her face anymore, just the sound of her voice._

_"Tell me something good that happened today," she prompted as she tried to pull me out of funk._

_"That old gray mama cat let me pet her kittens this morning," I said proudly._

"You're not going to, right?" Bella asked.

"Huh?"

"I've been talking to you for the last couple minutes and you didn't hear any of it?" she said sounding a little hurt.

"I got lost in a memory," I explained. "Now, tell me, what am I not going to do?"

"I was asking about when we got to Ithaca if you planned on leaving me with the Cullens."

"Well, if everyone is there, that wont be an issue. Just know that wherever you are, I'll be keeping an eye on you to make sure you're safe. I told you, it's like you're my little sister."

"And if they don't want me?"

"Not possible."

~o~x~o~x~o~

We stopped in a little town in Northern Pennsylvania to grab a late lunch. Well, Bella ate and I crinkled my nose at it. We took our lunch to picnic tables that we had passed so that I wouldn't have to pretend to eat. As far as I'm concerned, that was a task to be avoided at all cost.

"We only have about eighty miles until we get there, it wont be long now."

She climbed up onto my back and we took off.

As promised, it wasn't until I picked up the first trail. I followed it until we ended at a very large, eerily quiet house. There was no one here. It was the scenario that I had not planned for and that Bella feared most. I didn't know where to go next.

"Bella, there's no one here," I told her when it was not as immediately apparent to her as it was to me.

I felt her grip loosen on me, so I put her down and she crumbled. She sat with her knees to her chest and she was just... gone.

I picked her up and carried her over to a tree and sat down with her in my lap as she just cried. She looked so confused and so lost. I think she really though we would find him right away. I didn't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.

We sat for an hour and she cried, and of course, I was sad for her, too.

"They're gone, they don't want me. Alice would have seen me coming."

I didn't know what to tell her other than that we would find them. Sure, we were mainly looking for Edward, but I knew that finding the Cullens would be the key to finding Edward.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes, eyes that held no hope anymore. It reminded me of the day that I found her in the meadow.

I don't know what came over me but lifted her chin up and I kissed her. It started as a soft peck to perk her up, but she kissed me back. It was desperate and sad and she still cried and none of it was right. It wasn't right for me to comfort her in that way, but I did. We pulled away at the same time and without a word. She buried her face in chest and cried even harder.

"I just want him."

"I know." I hugged her tighter, she needed it.

We sat there for a long time. It started to thunder. Through the storm, I heard the sound of a cell phone ring. I thought it was at a neighbors house until I remembered how secluded the house was. The phone kept ringing.

"I hear a phone," I said as I got up, taking her with me.

I followed the noise to the end of the long driveway to the mailbox. I pulled the mail box open and pulled it out. Examining the screen, I saw that the call was from Alice. I didn't know who it was for, but I answered it anyways.

"Hello?" I said cautiously.

"Laurent, I need to speak with Bella." She spoke fast.

I looked down and Bella and told her Alice wanted to speak with her. Her eyes lit up, she looked hopeful again and I hoped that it wasn't for nothing.

I handed her the phone.

"Bella, I missed you so much! When we left, Edward told me not to look for you. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to keep Laurent from taking you."

I scoffed at her statement, of course I could hear her talking on the other end of the line.

"-But I see you guys are getting along well, now. What did you say to him to get him to not kill you?" She talked too fast for Bella to have a chance to answer, "The family is in Forks, we were looking for you... I couldn't see you half the time! Sometimes I saw you coming to Ithaca and then sometimes I saw you dead and then there were even times that you were writhing in pain, bitten," she continued on and on.

"Bella, we saw your father, he's a wreck. He hasn't been to work since you were taken."

"Alice," Bella said, speaking for the first time "slow down, I wasn't taken."

"I... I just assumed. You went with Laurent on purpose?"

"We're looking for Edward, is he with you?" She sounded surprisingly composed now that she had a glimmer of hope.

"Bella," she was hesitant, "about a week ago I had a vision of you and Laurent kissing. Edward happened to see it as it came in and on top of all his hurting, he assumed that you just wanted him because he could give you immortality. He began to doubt everything. He left that day, I don't know where he went. He didn't decide, he just went!"

"Argh!" Bella screamed in frustration, "Why is he doing this? Shouldn't he know better?" She was starting to sound defeated again. She handed the phone back to me.

"I can't do this, he just doesn't want me." She sunk down again and curled up, leaning her head against my knees.

"Laurent, I'm sorry about the bad news. I can tell you that he left on foot and there must be a trail. Or you can bring Bella back to Forks-"

"Bella doesn't to go back to Forks," I said, cutting her off, "She wants to find Edward, or at least she did, she's losing hope. He crushed her, you know."

"Well, whatever you decide, I'm sure I'll know now that I'm watching. Just keep this phone on you just in case and we'll keep you informed. Oh, and there's a charger and money in the mail box. Please take it."

"Okay, we'll keep in touch." I hung up.

Scooping Bella up, I began to walk around the house looking for a week old trail. Finally I found one that started in the middle of the back of the house. I guessed he probably jumped right out of his window.

"Bella, we're going to just follow his trail until we find him. I can't lead anywhere but to him."

ooooo

A/N: The response to this story has really been unexpected! I forgot to mention last chapter how thankful I am for everyone that takes the time read, review, alert, and favorite my story, but I am. I'm making it a point to respond to each review, which is not a difficult task at the moment. I know how annoying it can be to sign on to a story so early on, but I'm glad you have and I can't wait for you to see what's next!


	6. Fight

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

ooooo

Chapter 6: Laurent- Fight

How could I have been so stupid? When someone's upset, you tell them it will be okay, maybe you hug them. I knew this. Why did I kiss Bella? All I can say is that it seemed obvious at the time. It wasn't even a decision, it just _was_. Fated, maybe? It certainly wasn't a good thing. And for it being such a strange situation, Bella took it for no more or less than it was: just comfort. Earlier I tried to talk to her about it and it was a short conversation.

"You know, I've never kissed a human before," I said, trying to start off on a less-serious note.

"Me, either. I mean, other than my parents." She laughed weakly.

Time passed as I tried to gather my thoughts. I just didn't know what I was supposed to say.

"I didn't... I mean I... It's just..." I was at a complete loss for words.

"I know," she said simply. We didn't really have to talk about, she just knew and there was no awkwardness.

Sometimes we didn't need to say a word to each other, we were just on the same page. A less forgiving person would have blamed me for the whole misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, Edward and Bella were not on the same page and it was my fault. I was so frustrated with myself. It was a hard lesson to learn that the future so delicately balances on the choices that we make today.

~o~x~o~x~o~

We followed the trail all the way to Texas. It took about two days. The trail took many turns, almost like he was wandering. He had a pleasant scent, like honey.

Along the way we stopped at a hotel in Tennessee to use the shower and that night while Bella slept, I went out to hunt. I could have waited longer, my tolerance was increasing but I figured it was better not to chance it. Deciding to hunt an animal this time was an easy decision. The look in Bella's eyes last time was enough. From here on out I would try my hardest to live off animals.

And it would be awful!

~o~x~o~x~o~

Not long into Texas, I picked up a _very_ familiar scent. Baby powder and cinnamon.

Victoria.

Furthermore, Edward's trail seemed to parallel it for miles like he was with her. Why was Edward traveling with her?

I wondered if he ran into Victoria and stayed with her. I sincerely hoped that he would not do something with her with the misapprehension that Bella had been unfaithful to him. I decided not to mention Victoria's scent to Bella for the time being.

After a few more miles, Edward's trail broke off from Victoria's and headed towards a city. We ran into the city, staying in the shadows. I was very thankful for the recent hunt as the scent of thousands of humans assaulted my senses. I almost became distracted as some of my favorite scents wafted over me. Cherry, pumpkin spice, yeast, cotton, marmalade and caramel. We only slowed down when tree cover was no longer available.

We followed the trail to the airport but he wasn't here anymore. He could have gone anywhere from here. Luckily his traveling partner still seemed to be around and that was my next move.

"What's next?" Bella asked when she realized that we hit a dead end. This was the first time she really seemed aware of anything in a while.

"Well, I didn't want to tell you, but for the last few miles I was picking up on Victoria." Her heart rate picked up. I didn't want to say it but, "It seems like they were traveling together up until Edward came here, to the airport." She cringed.

"I think I should track down Victoria and try to find out some things, but I think you should hide-" She cut me off.

"Hide? What do you mean? I can't just curl up somewhere and wait!" Her eyes were frantic.

"It's not safe, you've had pretty good luck as far as vampires go, but I know for a fact Victoria will not be friendly."

"Well, I still think I should go with you," she argued.

"Absolutely not!" I said trying to sound final, "You're going to check into a hotel and wait until I come and get you."

"I don't like it."

"Right now, you don't have to. You just need to stay alive long enough to find Edward."

We stared at each other for a long time. I knew I would will this argument, and I think she knew, too.

"Whatever. Will you take the cell phone with you?" Her words didn't match her body language, she didn't look anywhere near as resigned as she sounded.

"Yes, now let's get moving." She climbed on my back and we started looking for a nearby hotel. When we got closer to the downtown area, she hopped down and we walked together.

"How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"I'm not sure, a few days? You know what you need?" I said trying to distract her, "You need some sunglasses and a hat, something so that you can go to Waffle House and not get scrutinized in."

"I hate shopping."

"We'll do it quickly, okay? The sooner I leave, the sooner I return, and the sooner we find Edward."

"Do you really think we'll find him after everything that's happened?" She asked as I steered her into a convenient accessories shop.

"I think so, we have forever. Ooh, look at these!" I said as I handed her a pair of sunglasses with a brown tortoise shell frame and dark tinted lenses. "They'll really bring out the striation of colors in your hair."

She raised and eyebrow at me and then tried them on.

"I kind of like them," she said.

"Okay, now for that hat!"

We paid for the sunglasses- but not before receiving a knowing look from the cashier- and went to look for something more casual than the accessories shop had.

We ended up getting a Houston Astros baseball hat from a street vendor. She put them on right away and we headed for the nearest hotel.

Check-in was becoming an issue when we could stay at nicer hotels. They wanted things like IDs and credit cards. I didn't have any ID and Bella couldn't use her own because she was not using her own name when checking into the hotels. We were taking more precautions now since the incident on Indiana. We left to the nice downtown hotel to find a scruffier place that would let us pay by the hour. I knew what paying by the hour implied, but it beat trying to deal with all the questions.

We got settled in and I was just about to leave when Bella said something that would probably save her life.

"Shouldn't you shower? I mean, to get my scent off of you, if you're going to find Victoria?"

"That is a very good idea!"

I went into the bathroom and stared at the shower controls, they were all so different! Honestly, it was a little tricky to use at first. I finally got the water set and stepped in. I let the water run over my skin, warming it. I wondered what I would say to Victoria when I found her. As far as I knew, she could be ready to ambush me or she could be friendly, after all, we did travel together for many years.

I scrubbed my skin several times to ensure that there were no traces of Bella left on me. Of course there would be some, I would be walking into a room that was saturated by her scent, but the scrubbing would help. When I finished, I toweled off and got ready to leave again. I would have to find new clothes soon, my green shirt was more of a black color now.

When I stepped out of the shower I wasn't prepared for what I saw. Bella was curled up on the bed shaking and crying silently.

"Why are you crying? You were fine when I went into the bathroom." She wasn't really taking all this in well.

"I wasn't fine, I was trying to be fine, but I'm not. Please, please don't leave me. I don't think I can handle it."

"I'm not leaving you, not really."

"But she could kill you!"

"I'll call you and keep you updated. It'll be like I'm here, too."

She sniffled, "Um, maybe you should bite me? I could go with you," she half-said, half-asked.

"I don't think we have time for that."

"What do you mean?"

"The transformation isn't a quick process, and it's painful. Right now, I need to leave if I have any hope of finding her at all."

Now was not a good time for this conversation.

"When I get back, okay?"

She didn't say anything in return, she just rolled away from me and cried. I left the room knowing that it was what I needed to do.

I re-traced Edward's trail from the airport back to where it split off from Victoria's and started to follow her. I was able to run so much faster without Bella on my back. I was able to make up lost time and her trail was getting stronger and stronger as I came closer to her. I knew she would sense me. I called out for her. Maybe she wanted to see me.

Another couple of miles passes when her scent abruptly stopped. I stopped knowing that she was being cooperative now. I waited for her, I knew her well enough to know that she'd come.

Without any warning she dropped out of a tree right in front of me.

"Hello, traitor," she said with a hard voice.

"Is that how it is now?" I was trying to feel her out.

"You betrayed James to the Cullens and they killed him! And what did you do? You ran away! Coward!" she screamed.

I suspected that James was dead, but I didn't know for sure until now.

"What are you doing in Texas?"

"Playing, making friends," she said and then she was laughing maniacally.

"What are you doing with the mind reader?"

A victorious smiled crossed her face, "I told you, playing. He's was tracking me, but he's not good at it" she laughed.

"Why do you care? And where have you been?" She asked.

"I'm looking for Edward as a favor to a friend."

Apropos of nothing, she lunged at me. She grabbed my shoulders and slammed me to the ground then jumped up and grabbed me by my ankles and threw me into a tree. By then I was ready for her. I lunged at her and she almost slipped out of my fingers but I had a hold on her forearm.

"Why did Edward get on a plane?"

"He thought he was following me."

"Where?" I demanded.

"What makes you think I'll tell you?" she asked in a falsely innocent voice.

I ripped her arm out of its socket and she screamed in pain, "That."

I tossed her arm to the side and she darted to try to catch it but I stepped in front of her.

"Ah ah ah, I don't think so. Tell me where and I'll let you have your arm back."

"You'll let me, huh?" She cooed.

She lunged again. This time she wrapped her legs around my thighs and tried to wrap her good arm around my neck but I managed to grab that arm and I gave another good yank as it separated from her body.

"Should I keep going? I will kill you." I looked her directly in the eye.

"I smell that human on you, the one that got James killed. So you're taking sides now?"

"Don't you worry about her," I said. It was then that I knew I would have to kill my long-time friend or else she would find and kill Bella.

"I see how it is. I'll never tell you where Edward is!"

"Suit yourself," I said icily, "I can find him without you."

Then I ran towards her and leapt and kicked her hard in the chest. When she was down I reached for her head and pulled it off. After her head was off I ripped the rest of to pieces and started a fire. When the fire was going strong, I collected up the body parts and threw them into the fire and watched my friend of many years burn to the point of no return.

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Thanks for reading my story. Feel free to comment or PM.


	7. Clinging

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

A/N: I'm very excited, I have a way cool Laurent 'n' Bella picture for my profile now. Also, thanks to everyone who Story Alerted and Favorited this story!

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Chapter 7: Bella- Clinging

I thought that I was beginning to climb out of my hole, and, I guess I really was. Part of me knew that Laurent could leave me just as easily as Edward and even Jacob had. Now that Edward had effectively left me twice, I fell back into my hole where the only thing I could see was my new friend that picked me up last time. When he kissed me, I kissed him back. It was the only way I could thank him for just being there. That's all it was for me, just gratitude. If I wasn't so lost in my own misery, I might have pondered why he kissed me. I filed it away for later consideration.

That damned kiss! Alice said it was the reason Edward left. The anguish of being so close was unbearable.

He said to Alice, "He crushed her, you know."

Never had truer words been spoken, however they were inaccurate. I was pulverized to smithereens. I was just plain gone and certainly had no hope. I lost it.

I was aware of nothing. At one point, Laurent tried to talk to me about that damned kiss. My ability to respond was only slightly above auto-pilot. After that, I stopped pretending. I didn't even bother to function for Laurent's sake like I had for Charlie. Charlie would have never understood, but Laurent, my only friend, would. I clung to him tighter.

Somewhere along the way he dropped me off at a motel. I thought for sure that he was leaving me. I just curled up on the bed and cried until I made myself sick. And then I screamed, and then I cried some more until I passed out. The next thing I knew, I was in Laurent's arm and we were on our way again. I guess he hadn't left me after all.

My ever-returning friend.

When I awoke from my daze this time, we were... in the middle of an airport? I didn't seem right. Something was wrong, I could feel it. It felt like my inside were churning. Then he said the words that made my stomach drop. He found Victoria and I had to hide, he was leaving me again. The only thing left for me to do was to argue. I should have fought for Edward when he left, I should have fought harder to see why Jacob all of a sudden didn't want to be my friend anymore. So I fought and argued with him but he stood his ground. He knew he was right, and part of me knew he was, too, but I'll never admit it aloud.

And then we went shopping? What kind of a person shops in a crisis? I couldn't say for sure what we bought. Maybe I seemed better on the outside but I really wasn't.

Later that day, we checked into a hotel and while Laurent showered, I cried. I realized that as upset as I was about Edward, I knew that Laurent was leaving me again. How many times could he leave before something happened and he wouldn't return? Not only that, he wasn't just going out to hunt, he was going on a search for an enemy. She could kill him. I couldn't stop shaking. I just knew he wouldn't come back this time.

I laid it all out for him to see.

"I wasn't fine," I told him, "I was trying to be fine, but I'm not. Please, please don't leave me. I don't think I can handle it." I begged. If I had any energy I would have gotten off the bed and begged on my knees. I couldn't lose Laurent, too. I rolled over and let my misery wash over me.

I didn't know what I would do next, I didn't even know what state I was in. It was hot, maybe somewhere in the south.

I laid on the scratchy comforter for I don't know how long until I heard a knock at the door.

I didn't bother to get up, no one out there had anything I wanted and the only people I wanted to see were Edward and Laurent, and I knew it wasn't either one of them.

"Bella, it's Alice," I heard through the door.

She wasn't on my list but I let her in. She knew right away that things weren't right.

"Bella, what's wrong?" She asked as she grabbed my shoulders and guided me to the couch in the room.

"Laurent left, he's going to get killed. He's not coming back, I just know it." I didn't pretend for Alice either.

"Silly Bella, if Laurent were in danger, I would be out there fighting with him instead of in here. He's handling Victoria just fine, or he will be in a few hours. Oh, I brought you something." She handed me a bag if food.

I picked through the bag, I really was hungry. Oh course, Alice would have known. She got up to walk around the hotel room. She looked like she was searching the future, too.

"Ooh, are these Chanel?" She asked as she picked up my sunglasses, as if she didn't really know.

"I guess. Laurent picked them out, he said that I could go to Waffle House now."

"Speaking of," she began, she turned and gave me her best mama look, "Jasper hacked into the Indiana state database looking for information on you when I had a vision of you being there. Did you know that police officer who saw you jump out that window was committed into the hospital for insanity? Of course, he was the only one in the group that busted in your room that actually saw you, so they just assumed he went crazy. He had a daughter that was around your age. She just disappeared one day."

I felt terrible! So much went wrong in Indiana. I told her as much. Then I told her more about our journey.

"I can't believe you just left a note for your father!" She chided.

"What was I supposed to do? Say 'Hey Charlie, I'm going to run away now.' Yeah, okay. By the way, I am eighteen now."

"You know, there's always something you could have done," she mused, "I have regrets, too. Following Edward's wishes has made me feel like a fool. I wish I was following your wishes, starting with your wish not to have a birthday party. If I hadn't pushed-"

"No, it would have happened either way. When Edward left, he told me that he didn't want me anymore. Laurent doesn't believe that, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. All I can know for sure is what he told me."

I've never seen Alice look so scary. She was absolutely fuming! She grabbed the lamp by the bed and crushed it between her hands. She ground a handful of the smashed lamp base in her hands and then without warning, threw it against the wall and screamed. Shards of glass stuck in the wall.

"He said what! What an imbecile! I could kill him myself! He thought he was leaving to make you safe, he is so dense! Look at you, running off with vampires! And he didn't even give you a choice in all of it." I shook my head.

I could now acknowledge that anything I wanted to regret, I couldn't. No one had given me a choice in anything until that day with Laurent in the meadow. You can't regret something that you didn't choose and I couldn't regret my choice to come with Laurent.

She paced around the room for about ten minutes, no doubt contemplating ways to torture Edward. Finally, she sat down on the couch with me. She let out a deep breath and then looked at me and shook her head. One thing was for sure, I did not want to be on the receiving end of Alice's anger.

I finished eating and got up to throw the bag in the trash. I looked around the room for the first time since entering it. It was by far the worst place we'd stayed in yet. Now that I was paying attention, I could hear the air conditioner grunt and groan. I went back to sit by Alice, I still had more questions.

"When you had your vision of me and Laurent kissing, why didn't you see me crying. And it wasn't a romantic kiss at all." This was the question that plagued me more than anything.

"It was raining. All I could really see was this extreme outpouring of emotion, how was I supposed to know?" Alice said. She threw her hands up in the air. "Now Edward's off being an ass somewhere, all I see is him in an attic. I don't know where." She pushed her thumbs across her eyelids then slid her hands down her face and groaned in frustration.

"I can't believe that he would think so little of me that he would assume that all I wanted was immortality." Never once did I consider becoming a vampire for any other reason other than to be with him. Even when Laurent asked me, I wouldn't have said yes to be with Laurent, friends or not, it would have been for Edward.

"I don't think he really believed it, I think it was a lie that he told himself. He can be very stubborn, you know that."

I sat there for the longest time. I didn't know what I thought I knew anymore. Up was down, right was wrong.

"I see Laurent biting you someday, someday soon." Alice stated when it got too quiet.

I still hadn't decided. In fact, I hadn't really been in a condition to think about it at all recently. One of the things that held me back was my fear of abandonment. I knew there was a possibility that I would never have Edward, but what if after a while Laurent left, too? I couldn't imagine the prospect of eternity without anyone.

"I know you're afraid, and if you choose not to, that's your decision, but Laurent will never leave your side," she assured me, and then added, "You're his best friend." She looked a little sad. She used to my best friend but she left, too. When this was all said and done, maybe we could work our way back together.

"Tell me about the transformation process?" I asked.

She began to tell me everything she knew. I knew it would be painful, I remember the fire from when James had bitten me. I didn't realize that it would take so long. I could imagine being driven to the point of insanity dealing with that pain for so long.

"There's also the fact that when you wake up, you'll be a newborn vampire. You'll be consumed by your blood lust. If wont be safe for you to be around humans for a long time. Years."

Thinking back to the note I left my father, I did say that it might be a few years before he'd see me again.

"No, Bella, you can't," she said cryptically, probably guessing my train of thought, "you'll look different, Charlie would notice. The most important thing about being a vampire is keeping the secret."

My goodbye to my father was nothing more than a whisper through a door, and it was breaking my heart. I couldn't leave my father stranded like that. I did say that I didn't intend to stay away forever. Well, they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	8. Emotions

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 8: Laurent- Emotions

As the last of the embers of Victoria's pyre burned, I contemplated the fight. She didn't seem to put up a fight. She was giving up, she lost her mate. Even if James didn't fully reciprocate her love, he was still the love of her life.

Like Bella, even if Edward didn't reciprocate her love, she would still love him until the end of time. My heart broke for her. Yes, I would kick Edward's ass, at the very least.

I searched my brain for any clue to where Victoria could have led him to. The only clue I had was that he was at the airport last. I debated on whether or not I should check in on Bella at the hotel or run over to the airport first.

I decided to go the airport first. I found my way back to the city, all I had to do was follow the delicious scent of human blood. On the way I called Bella.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" I asked.

"I'm good," she sounded more cheerful than she had in days but not by much, "actually, I have company."

"Is everything okay?" I was worried.

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. It's Alice."

Jealousy flooded my system. I couldn't say why. Rationally I knew that Bella could and did have more than one friend, but she was _my_ friend, _my_ little sister. My vampiric nature made me all the more possessive. I was jealous and possessive and then I got angry. Alice; the same Alice Cullen that left Bella all alone to fend for herself, dared show up at her room. How dare she?

"What's she doing there?" I asked. If was difficult to try to keep my voice steady and calm for Bella.

"Oh, yeah, what _are_ you doing here?" Bella asked her friend.

"Laurent, don't get your panties in a twist. Jasper and I came to help. I came to keep Bella company and Jasper-"

Bella cut her off, "You never mentioned anything about Jasper, where is he now?" She asked curiously.

Relief washed over me as I realized that Jasper wasn't with Bella in that room. She had told me early on that the catalyst of the Cullen's departure was an attack by Jasper.

"That is a fat stack of emotions, man," Jasper drawled from behind me.

I turned around and saw him leaning against a tree.

"I can tell by your confusion that you must be talking to my wife and that phone. I know, trust me, she does it all the time to me, too," he said with a short laugh.

"Tell him I said 'hi', I'll keep an eye on Bella until you guys get back," Alice said before the line went dead. Apparently she thought that I was going somewhere with him. There was more of a chance I would kick his ass first.

"I could have you torn in pieces before you can say 'the South is rising'." He must have seen me sizing him up. I suddenly felt subdued and vulnerable.

"You think you're coming with me?" I asked skeptically.

"Alice said that we're going to the airport."

"Yes, _I_ am going to the airport. Edward went somewhere by plane and I was going to see if I could figure out which airline he took." I took off running. I didn't wait for him, I still wasn't convinced that I needed his help.

He caught up quickly. I think he was actually going slower to keep pace with me. It was a little emasculating.

He tried to get me to talk about my emotions, _ha, _I thought to myself, _who's emasculated now?_ Like I was going to talk to him about my jealousy and anger.

I heard from my left footfalls; fast, vampire footfalls running towards us. It sounding like there were three of them and they outnumbered us.

"Dude, don't panic. Look at them, they're newborns." We stopped running and the newborns hurtled past us like a herd of elephants. I didn't understand how he could be so calm, newborns were volatile and feral, not to be taken lightly.

"Look, they might be after us," he told me, "I don't know why, but it just seems odd for a pack of random newborns to roaming around. If they come back, we're going to take them out. Just don't let them get their arms around you and when you attack, try to come at them from the side." His impromptu tutorial couldn't have come at a better time: the groups of newborns were doubling back to where we stood. We took a defensive stance. As the newborns came closer, I crouched lower, but Jasper straightened up with his palms forward a a sign of peace.

He spoke to them, "Who sent you here?"

The first vampire was a tall and lanky, he had brown hair and bright red eyes, none of them were any much older than a few months. The second one was taller with a muscular build and blonde hair, and the third was the only female in the group. She was petite with mousy brown hair.

The second vampire spoke, "No one sent us here," his voice was ringing with petulence, "but I know you are an enemy, look at your eyes! I can even smell the human on him." He looked at me.

I couldn't make the connection, what was so important about my orange-y eye color and Jasper's golden colored eyes? I knew it was a rare but it certainly wasn't an aggressive lifestyle. Jasper was still firmly in control.

"Who is your sire?" He was eerily calm.

"My mate," the second vampire answered.

"You are seriously pushing your luck, son," he said as he cracked the knuckle of his left hand against his right.

I was flooded with anticipation, I took it as my cue from Jasper to attack. I lunged at the first vampire and began wrestling him. He was strong but unskilled. He went to wrap his arms around my neck as I ducked back behind him and kicked his legs out from underneath him. As soon as he was on the ground I stepped on his back and was about to yank his arms from the sockets when the girl jumped on my back. I kept my foot on the first vampire's back and reached over my head to grab the girl. Her hold on me was solid and her teeth were dangerously close to my neck when suddenly, she was gone. Quickly, I reached down and resumed disassembling the vampire below me. I saw that Jasper already had the blonde torn to pieces. I had to admit: he was good. He was standing with the girl in a choke hold and she looked sleepy.

I gathered firewood for the fire while Jasper questioned the girl.

"Tell me now, who created you and your friends?"

"I only saw her twice, I never knew her name."

"What did she look like?" Jasper said through clenched teeth, he looked tired of her games.

A look of pure terror overtook her face and I wondered if that was Jasper's doing.

"She has long, wavy red hair." We both knew who she was referring to and before she even finished speaking the word 'hair', Jasper had her in pieces.

We piled the stone body parts into the fire and watched long enough to ensure that every piece caught fire, then we left to go on our original mission.

We ran to the airport and on the way I sheepishly said my thanks to him.

The terminals were mostly empty now that it was later in the day. I was relieved, I would need to hunt before returning to the hotel. We followed his very faint trail awkwardly right up to the Brazilian Airlines check-in counter.

Jasper said, "I know you're headed back to Bella. I swear, if you hurt her; if you so much as misplace one single hair from her head, I will hunt you down and kill you mercilessly. You know I will."

"Bella's my best friend, at least I never attacked her and I would never leave her! She was supposed to be family to you! You left her like she didn't even matter!" I let all of her injustices boil over and course through me and I wanted him to feel it all.

"Look, you need to calm down before you slip and kill someone. I'm getting on a plane to Rio to find Edward," he put his hand on my shoulder and a sense of calm came over before I could shrug off his hand.

I stood there trying to fight the calm because I was still mad, but it was winning. In my calmer frame of mind, I could think clearly.

"Try to keep Bella up to speed with what you find, she's not doing well. She needs all the help she can get on her mission to find Edward," I said. I was a little peeved at how my voice sounded forgiving when that wasn't how I felt. I cursed his influence over my emotions as I walked towards the automatic doors to leave.

Just past the door, I could feel his influence break and my emotions rushed back to me, including my blood lust.

After a quick hunt, I returned to to the hotel to overhear a disturbing conversation as I approached our room.

"...I could do it for you, but I would have to prepare. Or if you'd like, we can go to Carlisle. I did mean to ask you now that I'm finally here if you would like to go back with me," Alice offered.

I was enraged. I knew what they were talking about. Not only did Alice come and try to steal Bella from me, she was trying talk Bella into something that she wasn't ready for yet.

"I don't know, Alice," Bella said, sounding unsure.

Could Bella really want to go, too? Maybe I misread the entire situation, maybe she did want to go back to the Cullens. I would be a fool to think she would choose me over the Cullens. I didn't know what I would say, I turned around. I wasn't sure if I intended to sit on the step behind me or to just keep walking, but as I turned away I heard Alice huff.

"Oh, good lord," she said in an exasperated tone.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Hold on." Then I heard shuffling and the door opened and she called my name.

"Laurent, wait," Alice said as she call for me.

"What do you want from me?" I was nearing a point of defeat.

"To straighten out some things, you pessimistic idiot."

Ha, she thought she would straighten some things out, I'd show her.

"No! She's my friend, you wont just take her!"

"Laurent, you don't understand," she said calmly, "Bella doesn't want to come with me, but she thought for sure that you weren't coming back, even though I told her you were."

"Well, I'm going to go see her then. Jasper got on a plane to Rio, I thought you should know."

She gave me a big smile and said, "I do know," then she winked and skip back into the room to say goodbye to Bella.

It broke my heart that Bella had such abandonment issues because of the Cullens and Jacob. The only thing I could do was just be there for her and continue to be there.

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A/N: I'm very excited about the upcoming chapters and I can't wait for you all to sink your little vampire teeth into them!


	9. Friends and Family

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Ooooo

Chapter 9: Laurent- Friends and Family

Alice was in the hotel room saying her goodbyes to Bella. I stood outside to give them the illusion of privacy as I eavesdrop without shame. And I needed to come down a little from my anger. There was so much more that I wanted to say to both Alice and Jasper, but in the heat of my anger, I couldn't make the words leave my brain. Jasper's word rang in my head, _"you need to calm down before you slip and kill someone." _I would rather rip my left arm off than bite Bella on accident. I took a deep breath to calm myself and walked through the door as Alice was leaving.

I stood against the door jamb and watched Bella. She looked relieved and... determined?

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I'm back."

"I'm sorry," she said with shame.

"What on Earth are you sorry for?" I asked.

"I'm sorry that I thought you weren't coming back, I'm sorry that I was such a brat about you leaving, I'm sorry that you thought I was going to go back with Alice; I told you I didn't want to go back to Forks. I'm sorry that Alice and Jasper upset you."

I was fighting my rising fury at the mention of Alice and Jasper.

"See, look at yourself, look at your eyes," she said as she waved her hand at me. My stance had become hard and cold, "You look so mad and kind of scary looking," she offered a shy smile and then continued, "But you can't be mad at them. I don't blame Jasper for attacking me. He's the newest to the vegetarian lifestyle and he always struggled with being around me. I never blamed him. I understand now why Alice stayed away, Edward told her to. I know that you're mad at them in my honor, and that's sweet, but I've forgiven and I want you to forgive them, too."

I thought about Bella's capacity for forgiveness. The first thing that came to mind was how she had forgiven me when I hunted that human in Indiana. Either she was a doormat or she was the most compassionate person I had ever met. I though of how glorious it was to be on the receiving end of her forgiveness.

"If you insist, then I forgive them."

"All of the Cullens?" She added.

I huffed, I didn't feel ready to let my anger go just yet, but I knew that I would have to if she wanted me to.

"As I said, if you insist."

She raised one eyebrow up at me, "Really," I insisted, "the Cullens are forgiven, but Edward still has some answering to do."

"Fair enough."

She turned around and curled up on the couch. She tucked one leg under her and the other under her chin.

"There's something that I wanted to say," she started, "Thanks for taking me with you on all of this, and thanks for coming back for me every time. I know I'm not the most cheerful person right now."

"That's not completely true, you laugh sometimes."

"Yeah, I laugh because you make me laugh. You're like a ray of hope to me," she blushed, "You're my best friend. I realize now that you'll never leave me and that's what I really wanted to talk to you about. I want you to turn me."

"Seriously?" I didn't see that coming! "When?"

"Whenever you think you're ready." Her heart rate was increasing.

I was flabbergasted and excited. I wanted to do it right then.

"I think we should check out, then!"

~o~x~o~x~o~

I don't remember the exact circumstances of my change, I don't even remember the vampire that bit me. Whoever it was, was long gone by the time I regained consciousness. I didn't know what to do in this situation as I had never attempted to turn someone before. I hoped she wasn't expecting any fanfare.

I carried her out of Houston into the nearest surrounding forest. This would be among the last of the times that I would ever need to carry her.

"So, how are we going to do this?" She asked shyly.

"Maybe you should stay standing so that you can kick me in the shin when I don't stop eating you right away," I joked.

"Ha ha, very funny," she said dryly.

"I just thought that I would let you know that I would have bitten you without the pretty speech earlier," I told her.

"And I just wanted you to know those things before I forgot," she countered. "Both you and Alice said I might forget things."

I nodded, memory loss was by far my least favorite thing about becoming a vampire.

"Maybe you should tell me stories that you don't want to forget."

We sat on the forest floor for hours while Bella told me everything about her life; her mother, her father, childhood memories, the story of how she met Edward...

~o~x~o~x~o~

"I think I'm ready now," she said timidly.

I nodded, and she nodded with me. We sat there Indian style, facing towards on another and just stared.

"I'm nervous," she confided.

I took a deep breath and said, "Me, too."

Her heartbeat was racing and I was trying my not to think about the blood, but to concentrate on only biting. Awkwardly, I reached forward and cupped the back of her neck and pulled her closer to me.

"Are you sure," I asked.

"Yes," she said breathily. I could hear the nerves in her voice.

I used my thumb to tip her neck back a little and put my other hand on her shoulder so that I could push her away when it got to be too much. I held my breath so that it would be easier. Slowly, I closed the distance between us while venom pooled on my mouth. I bit into the soft flesh of her neck, I tried so hard not to enjoy it, I really did try. I let the venom that had pooled in my mouth seep into the wound while trying not too much blood flow into my mouth. I was trembling, I almost lost it until I heard a snap and her cry out.

I pushed her away and noticed that I must have been gripped her shoulder too tightly. It was broken, I had broken it. Her breathing became shallow as the pain of the fire spread, made worse by her broken right shoulder.

She collapsed to the ground screaming and I panicked.

"Bella, oh my god, Bella!" I knelt over her and cradled her face in my face, "The pain will stop, I promise."

In all my time alive, I never really encountered vampires in the transformation process and I didn't know how the human body healed. I worried about her shoulder healing and I just didn't know the mechanics of it. The only thing I could think to do was to find Carlisle. He had changed many vampires, and not only that, he was a human doctor. As much as I knew that Bella didn't want to go back to Forks, I knew she needed Carlisle.

Gingerly, I picked her up, trying to be careful with her shoulder but knowing that the venom hurt the worst.

"It hurts!" she screamed, "So bad!"

"Shh, I'm going to take care of you. Remember, I told you I'd never leave."

That whole first day, she screamed. Her skin started to lose its heat and what little color she had began to drain from her. I was so afraid that the transformation would finish and her shoulder wouldn't heal or that it wouldn't set right. I ran as fast as I could trying to get to Carlisle.

In the early hours of the second day, we arrived in Forks. I, once again, skirted around the town and raced to the Cullen Mansion on the outskirts of town.

Bella's screams had turned into whimpers, but they would still hear me coming once I got close enough. There were sounds of life as I approached the house. When I was about a hundred yards away from the house, Carlisle emerged from the front door and waited for. He looked calm.

"Welcome," he said, "We've been expecting you."

I walked up the front steps and followed Carlisle into the house where there were three other vampires inside, his mate, the blonde and the beefy one.

"Alice called yesterday and told us that you'd be looking me, she said you would be requiring medical assistance?" He looked over Bella while I still held her.

"I broke her shoulder on accident."

"And you bit her," he pointed out.

"Yeah, that too," I said and he motioned me to lay her on the white couch. I tried to lay her down put she clutched to my shirt, ripping it as her strength was increasing. I told her that I was here and that I wasn't leaving and she seemed to relax a bit.

"I've never done this before, I didn't know if it would heal or what? I'm so worried."

"Well, the good news is the bone would have healed with or without my help. But I'm glad you brought her to us, we missed her so much," he put the back of his hand on her forehead and then opened up her eyes. The color was changing red, but the brown was still visible. "She looks to be right on course, everything will be fine."

Esme came over and sat with her, she was so motherly.

"It's okay, dear, the pain will stop and everything's going to be fine. We're so glad that you're home," Esme said as she doted on Bella.

Then Esme turned motherly attention to me, "Laurent, there are some clothes upstairs that we were going to donate; why don't you go and get changed out of those clothes."

I made my way upstairs and found the basket of clothes that Esme was talking about. I picked out a pair of blue jeans, an undershirt, and a black button down shirt.

I decided to get in the shower while I was up there. It was, by far, the nicest bathroom I'd ever been in. I felt guilty about having any kind of pleasure at all from the warm water so I showered quickly and rushed back to Bella's side.

I stayed by her side and she didn't seem to cry out as much when I was around. Emmett and Rosalie returned from their hunt. I suspect they just needed to talk about everything that had happened. We stood vigil over Bella, talking only occasionally. Rosalie glared at me every now and then and Emmett told bad vampire jokes. He was glad to have a new audience for once.

"What does Mrs. Dracula say to Mr. Dracula when he leaves for work in the evening?"

Emmett asked. I had to restrain my eye roll.

I glared at him and huffed, "What?"

"Chill out, dude, she says 'Have a nice bite!'"

The phone began to ring and I couldn't contain my relief, anything to stop the jokes! Carlisle got up to answer it. It was Alice.

"I could have called about five minutes ago but I was waiting for Emmett to quit with the jokes."

"Was there something important you needed to tell me, Alice?" Carlisle said.

"What? Laurent's reactions were funny," she said in defense, "Actually I called to tell you that we found Edward. We found him in an old condemned building in the attic, just like my visions. Anyways, we explained to how he was mistaken about Laurent and Bella and that she's in the middle of her transformation right now. So, Edward and Jasper are off hunting before the plane takes off, but we all should be home soon."

"That's wonderful news, I can't wait to see my family all together again. See you soon, bye." He hung up the phone and came to over and asked to speak with me.

We walked out to the front porch where he proceeded to ask me if I would be interested in joining his family. I told him I would take my cue from Bella when she woke up, after all, this was Edward's family and she still wasn't convinced that he wanted her.

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Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	10. Run With Me

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Sorry about the glitches earlier today!

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Chapter 10: Bella- Run With Me

The pain was driving me to insanity, I couldn't remember my name, and there was darkness all around. Part of me registered that there was commotion and talking going on around me, but I just couldn't concentrate on anything but the pain. I feared that I would never escape it. There were times when my world felt darker and I couldn't do anything but scream to combat the declivity of perceived loneliness. Vaguely, I was aware of hands touching me, but the physical touch only made the pain worse. The venom felt like someone was vigorously scrubbing sunburned skin with sandpaper, it was hot and stinging and abrasive.

Eventually the pain stopped, it was still a slow process. The end of the pain seemed to get worse towards the end just as I thought it was getting better, but it did come to an end. I was still reveling in the stark contrast of the pain and that fact that I now felt fantastic when I took my first breath since the pain receded.

I felt hollow. I was so afraid to open my eyes; so afraid of the world I would see. So I just kept my eyes closed.

"She should wake anytime now," a loud voice said.

"Bella?" As soon as I heard it, I knew that was my name. It felt right. This person knew me, so I decided to take a small peek. I opened my eyes just enough to see out and was surprised how clearly defined my eyes lashes looked, thirty-one in the left eye, thirty-three in the right, I quickly counted.

_What was I doing? _I thought to myself, _Right, I'm looking for the familiar voice._

I forced myself to focus.

As I opened up my eyes all the way, I saw five vampires huddled around me and I immediately jumped out of the area of danger. I crouched low and growled as a warning. I began to analyze my threats. Two women; a blonde and a creamy colored brunette, and three men; a kind looking one and one with a huge grin on his face and one that was tall with long dark hair. The third was the only that I knew. I couldn't remember his name, but I knew that I knew him. He began taking cautious steps forward and extended his hand to me.

I growled again, not because I didn't want him to come closer, but because he had four vampires to his back. It wasn't safe, I needed to warn him.

"Everything's okay, it's me and the Cullens, remember?" His voice was so loud, it sounded like he was screaming in my ear. I cowered and covered my ears. He was still inching closer to me.

Soon he was close enough and he knelt down right in front of me.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I shook my head, "I'm scared and my throat hurts, help me."

"Of course, you need to hunt. I'll take you," he told me.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" the kind man asked, "She just woke up and she's very strong. I could go with you," he offered.

"No! Not him!" I shrieked to my friend, "Maybe the other one?" The grinning one, although very large, looked much friendlier.

"Sorry, Carlisle. Looks like she's rather go with Emmett. Are you okay with that, Rosalie?"

Rosalie looked at me with so much sympathy in her eyes. It was a look that you would give someone who just found out they had a terminal illness, and I didn't understand it.

"That's fine, I could go, too, if you'd like," she said quietly, it was like she knew how loud everything was. I liked her.

"Okay," I said as I nodded.

I got up for the first time since I flew across the room. My throat was scorching like someone had put a white hot poker down it and it was dry and scratchy.

"I don't know how to hunt," I whispered to Laurent... yes, Laurent, that was my friend's name.

"That's okay, I'll show you," and he threw his arm around my shoulders and walked me out towards the back door.

"While you were changing," Emmett said, "we got a call from Alice, she said that they were on their way home with Edward."

At the mention of Edward, I had two memories come to mind. The first was of us sitting in a meadow, he was telling me he didn't want me to be afraid. The second was of us standing out in the forest and he told me he didn't want me anymore.

"Edward said he doesn't want me." My voice was small and almost inaudible.

We reached the river and Emmett and Rosalie jumped over it first, I watched them closely and then apprehensively jumped over it as well.

"They went ahead to make sure there aren't any humans, you might not remember but you asked me to make sure that you didn't eat any humans."

"I do remember that, but it's fuzzy," I told him.

Suddenly, I smelt something that was warm and musky. It made my throat burn, "What is that? I want it."

"Coyote, just close your eyes and take a deep breath. You'll know what to do."

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply and before I knew it I was running, following the warm scent of the coyote. Within seconds I was approaching a coyote with a bushy tail. When I was close enough, I leapt at the animal and it yelped as we tumbled to the ground. I just held onto the animal, unsure of what to do next. Laurent showed up then and I growled at him instinctively.

I gasped, "I didn't mean to growl at you!"

He looked at me confused and said, "What are you waiting for?"

Truthfully, I didn't want to get fur in my mouth but I would never admit that aloud. So I shrugged, the whole time the coyote was whimpering.

"Well, bite into its neck," he said it as if it was obvious.

I crinkled my nose and slowly bit into the pulsing artery in its neck and the hot blood flowed down my sore throat. It was so soothing. I began to suck greedily. The harder I pulled, the more limp the coyote became until finally all of its movements stopped as did the flow of blood. I needed more.

"Wait, before you run off, you have to take care of the carcass," he instructed.

I rubbed my throat and was about to tell him how much it still hurt.

"Alright, I'll take care of it this time, but just this once."

I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath just as Laurent had told me.

"I don't smell anything right now," I said with disappointment.

"We'll find something, come on."

We took off running together smelling everything around, the grass, trees, dirt, the dew on the leaves, but no animals. We decided to sit for a while.

"Laurent?" I said his name hesitantly, "I don't know who those people are," I confided.

"Sure you do, you just don't remember, probably because you haven't seen them in a while," he explained, "They're the Cullens and they're Edward's family. They want to be your family, too. You didn't want to come back to Forks, but you needed medical care. The kind only Carlisle could provide. I'm sorry I went against your wishes."

"That's okay, I don't remember of having a preference." I remembered being sad here in Forks, maybe that's why I didn't want to come back.

"Let's head back to the house, we'll probably find a deer or two on the way."

As promised, we found a herd of deer on the back. I drank two deer before I felt satiated and Laurent had one of the larger deer. He buried the carcass for me again.

I had hazy memories of Laurent carrying me as he ran and I was pleased with myself that I could now run with him.

When we got back to the house, Rosalie and Emmett were already there and the Cullens were discussing where they would go when Edward came back, I didn't have any input to add to the conversation so I just sat back and listened.

I wondered what would happen to me next.

We were so caught up in our conversation that we were surprised by the doorbell ringing. I could hear the wet thud of the human's heartbeat and I wanted it. Laurent grabbed me. Carlisle told him to take me upstairs and he would get rid of whoever was at the door.

We were in the top floor of the house but could hear everything from the bottom floor clearly, it was surreal.

"Charlie," Carlisle said and he sounded very surprised, "what can I do for you?"

"We got word down at the station that your family was back in town. Are you aware of Bella's disappearance?"

"Of course, sir, it made national news," he said slowly.

"She didn't come to you?" Charlie questioned.

I was feeling very anxious, I couldn't quite figure out who this man was. Foolishly, I took my first breath since the doorbell rang. My body was in motion before I could even process where I was going. I made it to the bottom of the steps before Laurent caught up to me.

"Don't!" he yelled, effectively drawing Charlie's wide-eyed attention to me. Laurent clamped his entire strength around my waist, but it didn't stop me from trying wiggle away. The man smelled so sweet. Emmett came rushing to my side to help Laurent restrain me.

"Bella? Is that you? What's going on?" He took a step closer to, sending his scent to swirl around me. I screamed in the pain.

"Let me go, I want him!" I screamed and Rosalie and Carlisle couched in front of Charlie.

"Charlie, it's not safe for you to be here, we need to get you out of here."

Charlie's eyes never left me, "Why are her eyes red? And that man," he pointed to Laurent, "that's the man the crazy police officer saw jump out the window with her! What's going on!" he demanded.

The adrenaline in his blood called for me and I fought against Laurent and Emmett. I screamed in frustration.

Esme came up the steps to try to talk to me and calm me, "Honey, hold you breath. It will be okay, it'll pass. Don't you remember your father?"

I pretended to still, I just wanted his blood. I didn't feel like myself at all as blood lust dominated me. I was growling like a wild animal. In that moment I was completely feral.

As soon as Laurent and Emmett let up, I lunged at Charlie. I felt a pang of guilt but it wasn't near as strong as the burn in my throat. Mid-lung I was knocked out of the air by Rosalie. She grappled with me until Laurent and Emmett caught up.

"What's wrong with her? What did you do to her?" Charlie accused, "Why doesn't she remember me?"

"Charlie, if you don't leave now, I'm going to take you home myself," Carlisle said seriously, "It's not safe for you to be here right now."

Charlie turned and walked out but said that he'd be back and he was going to find out what was going on. Emmett was still sitting on my chest while Rosalie held my arms down. Laurent was kneeling over my head.

"Think, Bella. That's your father, you would die of guilt if you killed him and you know it." He stroked my hair as he began to tell me stories, "Remember when you were little and he took you fishing and you accidentally knocked his worm bucket into the water? Or what about the time that he sent you a little girl's play make-up kit when you were around fifteen years old?" He kept reminding me of stories to distract me while Charlie, my beloved father, could drive himself and his delicious blood away from me.

It was then that I knew that we couldn't stay here. We would have to leave and if Edward wanted me in his life, he was going to have to come find me this time. Laurent, my loyal friend, obliged my request and we left as soon as we could pack some clothes from upstairs. We ran to the secluded forests of northern British Colombia where we hunted, played, and Laurent told me more stories of my childhood.

Most of all, we waited for Edward to come find us.

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Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM. The next chapter comes from the beautifully tortured mind of Edward Cullen… and he has a lot to say!


	11. Intention

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

A/N: I'm not one to write lengthy notes, but I think this is important. A little bit about my writing style: I write when the characters speak to me. Those who have ever been to my profile have probably read this about me. I really wanted this story to only be told from Bella and Laurent's perspectives, but Edward had important things to say. He demanded to be heard. Alice had things she wanted to say in the beginning and she begged and pleaded, but I told her no time and time again. She worked hard to be heard, I swear she slipped her phone into that mailbox without my permission. As you may have guessed, Edward is impossible to say 'no' to. However, I gave him stipulations, I told him to get it all out here. So I expect this to be the ONLY chapter from Edward's perspective. So while Edward's mind is a fascinating place to be, this story is about Laurent and Bella and their journey and their friendship. A piece of fabulous advice that can be applied to my story: Don't get caught up in the end point, just enjoy the ride. -Cindy

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Chapter 11: Edward- Intention-\in-'ten-chen\- n. 1: a determination to act in a certain way

It was excruciating watching Alice's non-stop and ever-changing visions of Bella. To be honest, I was jealous of her close relationship with Laurent, of which Alice assured me it was strictly platonic. I was upset with myself for mistaking that kiss I saw for anything romantic. Alice replayed her and Bella's conversations from the hotel room in her mind for me to see. My most prominent emotion was guilt. Guilt over her change that I was now watching through Alice's visions as we flew from Brazil to our connecting flight in Houston and from there to Sea-Tac. There was nothing I could do but wait.

I was beyond jealousy when I saw that Laurent was the one to comfort her as she woke up to this life and how he was there to show her on her first hunt.

Disappointment flooded me when I saw the vision come when she told Laurent that I didn't want her any more. I was disappointed in myself for the worst lie I could have ever told. How could I ever _not_ want Bella?

"Dude, you're more emotional than a girl," Jasper so eloquently pointed out, _He should get along well with Laurent, _he thought. I was treated to an image of Laurent on the phone experiencing a myriad of emotions.

He replayed his interactions with Laurent for my benefit when Alice had a sudden vision. Charlie coming to the house, Bella trying to attack him.

Through my carelessness, I dented my armrests as I helplessly watched the vision play out.

Then the worst part came, Esme was packing bags for Bella and Laurent and then they left. I made no attempt to try to hide the damage, all I could do was watch as she left.

She came so far in her journey, she was looking for me, she even subjected herself to the vampire transformation. All of this and she still didn't truly believe that I loved her with every fiber of my being, and, why should she? She only knew what I had so foolishly told her myself.

We touched down in Sea-Tac about a day after Bella's abrupt departure from Forks. The thing that Alice could see was that she was in a forest somewhere. I wanted to find her. I wanted to bring her back and talk some sense into her, but there was nothing to indicate where they could have run to and I just didn't know where to start.

So when Esme picked us up at the airport, I went home with them. Esme me hugged me tight and begged me never to leave again, that she couldn't when her children weren't with her. She pictured Bella and Laurent walking out the door, it pained her, and it surprised me that she thought of Laurent of one of her own. I felt a little jealous.

Over the next few days I laid on couch in my room and never moved an inch. I had my mind trained on Alice's thoughts. At first I didn't think she noticed, but after several visions of miscellaneous things and my sighs of displeasure she caught on.

_Edward, I will tell you if I know anything. Get out!_

But I couldn't. It was the only thing I had to go on, so I kept watching. I stifled my reactions so as not to give myself away.

_I know you're still watching._

She replayed a vision of me laying on my couch with a look of concentration on my face. She resorted to the only thing that could get me to back out of her thoughts. She started undressing Jasper in her mind. For the record, I didn't want to watch, but I debated with myself: Was it worth it to subject myself to this is if it meant that I wouldn't miss a vision of Bella? She started going through a role playing fantasy when I decided it was NOT worth it. Besides, Alice promised me that she would tell me if anything happened. I decided to go out for a hunt.

I ran half way to Seattle stretching muscles that I hadn't used for days, well, months really. I spent most of my time in Ithaca curled up in my room wallowing in my own dark existence. The only comfort I had was knowing that Bella was safe without me in her life. When I was curled up in the attic in Rio de Janiero, I couldn't even comfort myself with that anymore. All I knew at the time was Bella running around the country with a vampire. Whether she was _with_ that vampire, I honestly couldn't say at the time, but Alice's vision of that kiss replayed over and over in my mind until I neared the point of insanity. About a day into my self imposed imprisonment, I began to hallucinate. I wasn't even sure it was possible, but there she was, sitting next to me wearing that blue dress that she wore on her birthday.

She curled up next to me with her legs demurely tucked underneath her, she rested her head on my shoulder and sighed.

"Please come back, I miss you so much," she tested my resolve. I always had such a hard time saying 'no' to her. I closed my eyes and leaned over to smell the heavenly scent of her hair, but I couldn't smell her. Of course I couldn't smell her, she wasn't there. When I opened my eyes she was gone.

Everyday she returned to taunt me, to trick me into endangering the life of my Bella.

By the fourth day, I kept my eyes open. I wanted to see her even if she wasn't real. I watched her as she paced the attic. She would tell me how great our life would be together if I would just come back to her. As she did the other days, she curled up next to me, still wearing that blue dress, and told me how much she missed me. I closed my eyes to revel in the sound of her voice and when I opened them again, she was gone.

On the fifth day, Bella showed up and instead of pacing the attic she boldly came and sat on top of me, straddling my thighs. She took my face between her hands and begged me to come back to her. She was relentless. She began to rock her hips into me, telling me that I could have anything I wanted when I came back.

I wondered if she told Laurent that. No, I didn't really believe that.

That day I watched her in contempt as she tried her hardest yet to lure me out of my exile. That day I closed my eyes knowing that she would disappear. I refused to open them again. I would not be tempted any longer, after all, I only had so much self control. I sat with my eyes closed for days until Alice and Jasper busted into my dark corner of the world. At first I thought they were hallucinations, too.

Alice showed me a vision of Bella asking Laurent to bite, then him biting, and then him breaking her shoulder. That's what set my feet in motion. I watched as Bella screamed. I had to get to her.

In the end, all my efforts were futile. Here I was running to Seattle and back with no one at my side. I still ached with the knowledge that if Bella were here she could run along side of me now. It was a fate I never wanted for her. So yes, in the end, all my efforts were in vain.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a scent that I hadn't smell in several decades. The La Push Wolves. I looked around me but I didn't see any. I hoped that they still honored the treaty. I would have Carlisle check on that. I ran back to the house to get started on making sure that we would still be safe in our territory.

When I got back, Alice immediately stole my attention away.

"Edward, I had vision!" Alice bombarded my mind with visuals while explaining them anyways, "Charlie's coming, he wants to talk to us. He wants to know what's going on and he'll be here in about an hour."

"We should talk to Carlisle about this," I said.

"I'll call him, he's at the hospital," Esme said as she fished her phone out of her purse.

I sat down on the couch, it smelt faintly on Bella, only slightly different. Rosalie came and sat down beside me.

"You know that I would say above all to keep the secret, but Charlie already knows something's up." _And part of it is my fault, _she thought as she was too ashamed to admit it aloud, _if I hadn't leapt at her maybe he wouldn't have suspected as much._

"That's not true, Emmett told me that he saw how fast she came down the stairs and he saw the color of her eyes. If you hadn't leapt at her, she could have killed Charlie."

"If we tell Charlie, then the Volturi will kill Charlie," she countered.

"Frankly, I don't know what we're going to tell him, I don't know what to even say."

I laid my head down on the couch and nuzzled into the pillow that smelled so strongly of Bella and let it comfort me. I closed my eyes as I gulped down her scent. In that state, I let my thoughts swirl around my head. I weighed the pros and cons of telling Charlie the truth.

Esme couldn't get Carlisle on the phone, he was in surgery. Ultimately the decision was mine. Carlisle and I had an agreement that if he wasn't available to speak, then I was next in charge. It was a role I had always been uncomfortable with.

I decided to only answer Charlie's questions, no more, no less. I looked to Alice to see if it was a good decision. She shrugged, _too many variables._

The dreaded knock on the door came and I let Charlie in.

"Charlie, come in," I led him into the seating area of the great room, "please sit down, I know that you have many questions."

From his obscured thoughts, I could tell he was very upset with me. I was made privy to images of Bella comatose after my departure. How she would scream in the middle of the night. It was a low blow that he didn't even realize he was giving.

He was unsure as he saw Rosalie and Emmett, the main players at his own vampire coming-out party. He cringed a little.

"I want to know why, that when I came knocking at your door, Bella was here," he asked cautiously despite his anger. He was respectfully fearful.

Everyone had given me a run down of every moment that included Bella since the moment I left Ithaca so that I was able to answer any of his questions.

"She needed medical care," trying to make it sound as if it were normal.

"Medical care for what?" he asked slowly.

I thought through my answer several times before answering aloud.

"An infection." As soon as I said it, I kicked myself mentally for not saying it was for her broken shoulder. My answer was dangerously close to the heart of the matter.

"Why... how... and her eyes... her screams," his words were incoherent and his thoughts weren't any better. All I could really see from his thoughts was Bella descending the stairs at an inhuman speed. "Why did Carlisle keep telling me it wasn't safe?"

Another question that pierced right to the heart of the matter. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. What could I say without laying it all out there? I looked at Esme and pleaded with her with my eyes.

"Charlie," Esme came to sit down, I got so that she could sit in my place and she sat down and reached out for Charlie's hands and he let her take them, "when I was first...uh... bitten, it was difficult for me, too."

He registered the coldness of her hands and his heart rate increased, he still didn't know what to think.

"What was difficult?" He asked although he was unsure that he wanted to hear the answer.

"To be around humans. I took me years to be able to be around them comfortably."

Charlie remembered the note that Bella wrote to him the night she left with Laurent, _I don't intend of staying away forever, just a while. A few years at the most. Please don't look for me._

I wondered if she intended on becoming a vampire even then.

"What were you and Bella bitten by?" He asked Esme hesitantly.

Esme looked at me, _I can't just tell him, can I?_ She looked Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett in the eye with each nodding their consent. She looked back at me for the final consent and I nodded as well.

"Charlie, I know that this may be hard to believe and difficult to process, but I was bitten by a vampire, Carlisle. Bella was bitten by her friend, Laurent, the one that was on the steps with her," she explained.

His reaction reminded me of Bella's when I first confirmed to her that I was a vampire. He took it well, he was a little sorry he asked, but as a whole he was un-phased.

"Wait, so when she was screaming that she wanted me, she didn't really want _me_, did she? She... she, uh..." He shuddered. I wished he would have passed down that sense of self-preservation to his daughter.

I nodded, "Sorry, Charlie. It's just the cold truth of the matter."

"Did Bella know, I mean did she know what she was getting into? She just went with that guy?" Then he muttered under his breath, "I taught her better than that." I chuckled a little.

He looked around the room and it slowly dawned on him that Esme wasn't the only vampire here. He remembered Rosalie lunging at Bella, and Emmett coming to restrain her. He thought of how Carlisle stood there calmly as it all happened.

He let go of Esme's hands that he forgot that he was holding, "Edward, are you a vampire, too?"

I nodded slowly and the damage was done, another human knew of our existence.

Charlie stayed for another hour asking questions. We told him about our vegetarian lifestyle and why Bella's eyes were red. I explained to the best of my ability how difficult it was to be around humans especially how difficult it is for newborns like Bella. We all told him a little bit about our lives and finally about why I left, to which he surprisingly agreed, but not aloud.

Finally he asked, "What's going to happen to Bella, will I ever see her again?"

"I don't know for sure, sir, she and Laurent left to prevent her from attacking any humans. I have to go find her but I don't know where to look, all I know is that they're in a forest somewhere.

"I don't know when she'll be ready to be around humans again, but until that time it would be best to stay away from her.

"One more thing, Charlie, it is imperative that you keep the existence of vampires a secret. All of our kind depend on it, which now includes Bella."

Charlie left the house with a lot on his mind. I stayed on the couch curled up with the pillow that smelled like Bella waiting for something to happen. All I could see from Alice's visions was Bella and Laurent sitting at the top of a tree just talking. Days went by as I watched the visions that would rarely change.

About a week after Charlie left a new vision came in. They were on a hunt, a human was near by. My heart ached when Bella had another close call with a human. Laurent barely stopped her in time. I itched to be by her side. It was then that I got up. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew Bella was out there somewhere and I couldn't hurt her anymore, so I went to find her.

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Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	12. Remembered

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Chapter 12: Bella- Remembered

Laurent taught me how to climb trees and I loved it. I spent most of my time up in trees; I loved the view. Every movement, every leaf that blew in the breeze, every bird that flew over me, every animal that skulked under me, I loved watching it all. Often times Laurent would sit with me. He would tell me stories about my childhood and I couldn't help but laugh at my antics. It was surreal, it was like hearing about a life that wasn't my own. Only a few memories stuck with me. I remembered my father now, I remember that day that Laurent found me in the meadow and us running away. I did remember the Cullens, it all came back to me while Laurent was telling me stories. I even remembered James and Victoria. The memory of my mother was still fuzzy.

He told me how I left my father a note and that really upset me. I couldn't believe that I could be so cruel and heartless and selfish to just leave my father like, especially for someone who was supposed to be finding me right now. It had been a week and a half since we left Forks and there was no sign of Edward.

"You need to hunt," Laurent told me, as if I didn't know. Oh, I knew!

We hunted every other day since I woke up, I felt insatiable. I nodded, it hurt to speak when it got this bad.

He jumped down to a lower branch and I followed suit and this time I remembered to bend my knees so I didn't break the branch.

"I scented a bear family just south of here, wanna go?"

Again, I nodded. We took off running south towards our filling treats. I counted the trees as I passed them. I caught the scent of the bears and ran ahead of Laurent. Without warning the wind changed direction and so did my feet. I was now following the scent of much warmer, much sweeter blood, an animal that I had not tasted yet. Soon Laurent was behind me and getting closer.

"Bella, no, you don't want to do that!"

I paid him no mind and kept running.

"Bella," he yelled louder, "stop, it's a human!"

I wanted to care, but it smelled so good. I was trying to talk myself out of it when Laurent caught up to me. He threw his arms around my waist and tackled me to the ground. I knew I didn't want to attack that human so I held my breath.

"I'm fine," I said as I used my last remaining breath. Laurent didn't loosen his grip, I think he was afraid I would fake him out again. I turned my head so that I could face him and shook my head trying to convey that I wouldn't run this time. I got up and squeezed his hand tightly. I jumped up into the tree above me and climbed higher and higher. Laurent was supposed to be following me but when I looked down, he was still standing on the ground where I left him.

As I watched, it was like it was happening in slow motion. Laurent's eyes trained on the source of scent and he lost his mind. He was hunting. I watched in complete horror as he hunted down the human. I could see off into the distance where the unsuspecting human stood. I had to turn and look away as he latched onto the man's neck. I simply couldn't watch. I tried to think of anything else but nothing came to mind except for the fact that Laurent stopped me from killing that man only to hunt him down himself.

"Aaarrrrhhhhhggggg!" I heard Laurent scream. It wasn't the reaction I expected from him. "Aaarrrrhhhhhggggg!" he screamed over and over.

I wanted to be mad at him but he looked so anguished. I wouldn't want him to be mad at me if I killed someone, so I jumped out of the tree. I ran to him where I found him screaming over the dead man's body. I tried to pull him away and he wouldn't let go at first, but he eventually came. He collapsed into me as we sat against a nearby tree and he sobbed in my arms.

"You're so much stronger than me," he cried, "I didn't mean to... I didn't want to."

"Shhh, it's okay. We'll get through this together." I tried to soothe him but he was still inconsolable.

"I made a promise to myself, for you. I promised myself that I would try my hardest to live off of animals."

"Did you try your hardest?" I asked.

"No, I'm weak," he sobbed. "I didn't want to," he repeated over and over.

"Hey, shhh. I have an idea, do you want to have a funeral? We could say a few words, pay our respects?" I suggested.

We got up and started to prepare for our makeshift funeral. I went to the man and pulled out his wallet to see if he had any ID. His names was David Adams. Laurent uprooted a tree and laid it on its side.

"Look at these pictures, Laurent. His kids?" He had a daughter and she was holding a baby that was maybe a few months old.

He covered his eyes with his hands and mumbled, "I've _never_ felt like such a monster."

I picked up Mr. Adams' body and jumped into the hole in the ground from the tree. I arranged his body so that he looked peaceful and place his wallet with the photos facing out over his heart. I jumped out of the hole and stood with Laurent. He stood there for an immeasurable amount of time not saying a word. No eulogy was good enough for this man that should not have died.

Venom prickled painfully in the back of my eyes, no tears would fall. I spoke finally, "Mr. Adams, I will live forever and I will remember you forever. It is the only thing I have to give."

"I promise... to... to try my... my very hardest... from this day forward," Laurent stuttered through emerging sobs.

I wondered why he had such a sudden and dramatic change of heart. I picked up the tree and put back in place. There wasn't a root out of place.

We carved his initials into the tree. He carved the 'D' and I carved the 'A'.

~o~x~o~x~o~

We tried hunting again that day. Both of us were apprehensive because neither of us wanted to kill a human. It would be comical if it wasn't so tragic. While Laurent was strong enough to resist, he didn't believe that he was. He doubted himself, so we proceeded with caution.

We found a herd of deer a few miles away. I took down the first one I saw. I reveled in the taste knowing that I would rather taste bitter blood than have guilt on my conscious. Laurent drank of the deer, too, but out of punishment. He said that he didn't deserve to have the taste of human blood lingering in his mouth.

"Why was it so bad this time? You've been drinking from humans since 1755, and just a few weeks ago you did. Why the sudden change?" I voiced my curiosity.

"You."

We leaned against a tree and I rested my head on his shoulder. We were so used to having such close contact with each other because of how he needed to hold me as he ran. It was refreshing to me because I felt so alone, then and now.

"What'd I do?" I smiled a little.

"It was so close! It was such a close call, it could have been you," he said. I furrowed my brows. "Look how weak I am, I could have killed you, what if I slipped a few weeks ago? You're my best friend, and it just really freaked me out how close it was." He closed his eyes and put the heel of his hand on his forehead and took a deep breath, "It could have been you."

"But you didn't," I pointed out, "and now you can't. And look, now we can be best friends forever, just like a cheesy friendship bracelet." I laughed and he laughed with me.

We climbed up into a tree and spent the rest of the day listening stories of mine and Laurent's life.

"Someday soon I want to teach you to fight."

"Are you sure, I vaguely remember Alice telling that you weren't really a good fighter."

Actually, it was one of my clearer memories. Alice sat on the bed relaying to me her vision of Laurent and Jasper fighting newborns. I remember feeling utterly helpless and scared. I wallowed in my certain knowledge that he _just wouldn't _come back despite Alice's assurances otherwise. I had no faith.

I didn't feel that way anymore.

He huffed, "Hey, that's not fair! Anybody would look like a wimp next to Jasper," he defended himself.

I never got the chance to really get to know Jasper, we always kept distance between us for obvious reasons.

"You know, I was thinking..." Laurent said.

"Hmmm?"

"I was thinking that we should try to head back to Forks. What if Edward is waiting for you there?"

Wouldn't that be a tragic twist of fate if both Edward and I were waiting for the other to come?

"I know what you're going to say, you don't want to go into town because of the humans. When we get close to Forks, we'll hold our breath. How's that?" He jumped up and pulled me up with him effectively giving me no choice in the matter, "Come on."

So we headed south and although we had a planned destination we weren't in a hurry. We decided to run through the rugged terrain of the low mountains and we took our sweet time while we enjoyed the view.

Finally we neared the Canadian border.

"Look how close the 'Welcome to Washington' sign is to the 'Welcome to The United States of America' sign, I thought it was hilarious the first time I came through here. I was on my way to see you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

After we passed Olympia, we turned west and it was right around the place we decided we were going to hold our breath, but fortunately we didn't. That's when I smelled the most foul smell I could imagine. It was spicy and musty and reminiscent of wet dog and most of all, it smelt dangerous. We were on high alert. What kind of creature could produce such a awful scent?

The scent was getting stronger as we ran towards Forks. We were afraid to breath, but too afraid to be caught unaware. Suddenly there was a rustling of leaves and as I looked behind me I saw two large animals chasing us. The first was black and severe looking and the second was a russet color with large brown eyes. Fear coursed through me and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I didn't know anything could run as fast as I could, but there they were and they were gaining on us.

All I could see was Laurent not too far in front of me and two giant wolves not to far behind me. Suddenly my forever didn't feel so eternal.

ooooo

A/N: This chapter is in remembrance of and dedicated to my best friend's father, David Adams. He died earlier this year of cancer and I know that he would have preferred a quick death by a vampire. RIP Daddi-o.

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	13. Epiphany

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Chapter 13: Bella- Epiphany

Throughout my journey, I've given a lot of thought to what I would say when and if I ever found Edward. I wanted him to tell him everything I should have told him when he left me.

_Edward, I love you and I've never stopped and I never will._

I wanted to beg, _Please don't leave me again._

I wanted to scream at him. _How dare you strip me of any choice in the matter? Who are you to decide who should and shouldn't be in my life? _

I wanted to throw my arms around him and melt into him.

But none of that would happen now that certain death was nipping at my heels. Maybe I would wait for him from heaven if I had to. The way my brain worked now was amazing in that even in the disparity of my situation, I still thought of what I wished I could say, what I could have done differently. It was almost as if my brain knew that I would get my chance but it just seemed possible in that moment.

It was almost as if my brain was preparing me for the moment that Edward would jump and yell 'surprise'.

You can only imagine my surprise and elation and burgeoning hope when he appeared. Out of nowhere I heard his sweet honey voice yelling.

"Treaty! Stop werewolf, the treaty!"

It wasn't the most eloquent speech, but it was effective. These giant beasts halted at his words. My world halted at his presence. So here we all stood, me, Laurent, two werewolves, and Edward.

Edward.

His scent, honey and lilacs and sunshine reverberated around me and I was stunned. All the words I ever wanted to say were gone, not that now was the best time to say them anyways.

"Bella?" a familiar voice said from beside me.

"Jacob, don't come any close, she's not stable," Edward instructed. I resented that remark.

Jacob? I looked to my right and where the two wolves once stood was my once-friend and another man from the reservation. Part of me marveled that I had no interest in attacking them, they smelled dangerous. I inched closer to Laurent and grabbed his arm, I didn't know if he felt the same way.

"Look at their eyes," the older boy said.

"Regardless of their lifestyle, Sam, they are friends of the Cullens and, by extension, covered by the treaty."

Laurent groaned, I knew he was still thinking about poor David.

"What on earth is going on? Werewolves? A treaty? Jacob?" I asked in complete confusion. I couldn't bring myself to even look at Edward, or even think about us. Moments ago I thought I was going to die and now everything was different.

"Of course they wont," Edward asked an unanswered question. "I think we should all go back to the house and talk there."

"No," I said, "Jacob, you're a werewolf and you couldn't even tell me?"

"I might have if you hadn't run off with that bl- with _him_, now look at you," he replied and started to quiver. Sam placed a shoulder on Jacob's shoulder and commanded him to be calm. Jacob took deep breaths and stilled.

"Why did you go?" Jacob questioned. His eyes kept darting back to Laurent.

Although I was answering Jacob's question, I allowed myself to look at Edward. His eyes were starting to get dark again.

"I went to find you, Edward," I told him, "You shouldn't have left me."

I was always so sure that when Laurent would leave that he wouldn't come back, and he always did. And I was so sure just now that I was going to die, but I didn't. I so was convince, and by Edward's own words, that he left because he didn't love me. I had been so wrong about everything, I felt like I couldn't have faith in anything. I realized that now and decided to take that leap of faith and listen to what Alice said and what Laurent kept telling me: that Edward did, in fact, love me.

"Please." Of all my pretty words, if was the only thing I could say.

"Hmmm, I still can't hear you," he mused. I was relieved. I couldn't hardly untangle my thoughts, I didn't need an audience.

He took a slow step closer and I clutched Laurent's arm tighter. Edward was the only thing that kept the wolves from attacking and I was still afraid of them. I hoped that Edward wouldn't misread my gesture.

"Please," I repeated.

Laurent tugged at my arm, I broke my eye contact with Edward for the first time for what felt like years, to look at Laurent. He seemed uneasy about wolves, particularly Jacob who was staring at him.

"Laurent's right," Edward said, "we should hash out the treaty before anything else. Guys, will you accompany us back at the Cullen house?"

"No, we want neutral territory and even numbers. Meet us at the line in half an hour," Sam said. Jacob and Sam began to shake and in the blink of an eye they were gone.

After they were gone, Edward took a step closer to me but stopped again. "We need to go."

I agreed, my instincts were warring with my thoughts. I kept looking over my shoulder, it was completely involuntary.

We ran to the house and I let my mind wander. I felt like a schoolgirl as I played romantic fantasies of spending forever with Edward.

Esme ran out of the house to greet us. She wrapped Laurent and me in her arms and begged us not to leave again. I hugged her back, this time remembering the wonderful mother that held me in her arms. I knew that although I saw her a few weeks ago, it felt like the first time since Edward left.

Alice threw her arms around me next, "You're just as beautiful as I saw!" She wasn't as friendly towards Laurent but at least this time they weren't screaming.

"The Quileutes want to meet at the line to discuss the treaty in about twenty minutes," Edward started to explain once everyone had filed out of the house, "They're bring four wolves and they wanted even numbers. I'll be going, and Carlisle."

"I need to go," Emmett said and Edward raised his eyebrow at him.

"Action, hello!" Emmett said it like it was obvious

"What do you think, Jasper?"

"I don't think this requires too much strategy, it's just a meeting. That said I think it should be you, Carlisle, Emmett, and Bella."

I felt conflicted. I did not want anymore encounters with the werewolves, but part me wanted to see exactly where this line was; that would solve the problem in the future. I wanted to see Jacob, but I didn't either. It was all just too much.

Edward looked at me, "We can talk after we get back but we need to get going."

I nodded and I turned to Laurent, "You'll be okay?"

"Yeah," he assured me.

Along the way Carlisle pointed out where the line started and how long it stretched for. He told me how they worked out a treaty with the wolves seventy years ago. I marveled at the thought that someday seventy years wouldn't seem like such a long time.

Soon enough we came up on Sam, who was flanked by three wolves. One of them was Jacob.

"Thank you for meeting with us," Carlisle said as he addressed the wolves.

"We're glad you brought Bella," Sam stated frankly, "we wanted to talk to her about the circumstances of her change, to make sure the treaty wasn't broken."

I felt like I was on trial, as if I answered wrong we would all die.

"First, Bella, where were you bitten?"

I couldn't remember. It was one of those hazy human memories. I knew we traveled all over the country, but I just couldn't say for sure.

Emmett spoke, "Jasper and Alice said they were in Houston, Texas."

"Who bit you?"

"Laurent," I said timidly.

"Carlisle, was Laurent aware of the treaty at that time?"

"No."

"And will Laurent be staying with you for a while?" I didn't think too much into the question.

Edward smirked and nodded.

"I want to take the time to go over the finer points of the treaty. You are not to cross into our territory, and you will not bite or kill to feed from any human. Any violation of these terms and the treaty will be void. Your numbers, where do they stand now?"

"If Bella and Laurent join our family permanently, there will be nine."

"Please make sure your newcomers know where the line is, good day." With that Sam and the pack turned to leave.

"Jacob?" I called.

The red-brown wolf turned his head to look at me. We stared into one another's eyes but he just shook his head and turned around and kept walking.

"Why does he do that!" I screeched.

"He just needs time," Edward told me as he smirked again and turned to Emmett, "How was that action, Emmett? You know, Jasper just wanted to make you feel better. I don't really think you intimidated the wolves that much," he said playfully.

"Think what you want, man!" Emmett laughed and ran off and Edward chased him.

Carlisle took the chance to talk to me, he probably told Edward that he wanted to.

"How are you doing?" He was genuinely concerned.

"It's all so much. Everything, my emotions, reactions, instincts, my friends, slips-ups..." I trailed off.

"Oh?"

"Well, it wasn't mine per se, but I was right there and I just feel like it was my mine, too. Like if I hadn't been so close to Laurent as a human he wouldn't have been so tempted, you know? It broke my heart to see him cry like that, we held a funeral and it was sad but I really think that Laurent's going to put his best effort forth now."

"That's good, and what about you?" he questioned.

"Before when Laurent and I talked about me changing, I asked him if he would help me to not kill humans. It was a major stipulation. Thankfully, he followed my wishes, it saved my father."

"Speaking of, he came over and had a very _enlightening_ conversation with Edward and Esme. He understands your limitations and he knows not to show up unannounced. However, you can keep in contact with him, but we do have to be careful because of the Volturi. We'll talk more about that later. I think that Edward wants to talk to you." He gestured to Edward standing across the field from us. Carlisle hugged me and ran off and finally I was alone with Edward.

He took off running, but not from me, he wanted me to follow and so I did. We ended up in our meadow. I stopped a few feet away from him.

I took a step towards him and he didn't move away. I threw a party inside. I took another step this time only slower. I felt our electricity start to crackle around us. I didn't know if it was because of extended separation or because of my heightened senses but it was intense. It made it hard to breath. I looked into his eyes and I was lost, here he was, right in front of me. What more could I ever need? I reached my hand out slowly, so slowly, and held it out for him. He reached out just as slow and our fingers touched. The electricity exploded, it was like holding on to a live wire. I weaved my fingers into his and took another half step forward. He reached his other hand out and splayed his hand across my stomach. He slid his hand around to my waist and pulled me closer and closer, so slowly, until our bodies touched. I swear I felt the phantom of my heartbeat exploding out of my chest. He wasn't close enough.

ooooo

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	14. Faith

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Chapter 14: Laurent- Faith

I watched as Bella ran off with Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper left to go hash out the treaty. I looked around to see Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice, but Esme was no where to be found. I guess you could say that I was falling under her motherly spell. Suddenly she appeared and she was buzzing around.

"Come inside kids!" I bristled at being grouped with the kids but followed her in nonetheless. Rosalie opted to stay outside and wait for Emmett. Once inside, Esme commanded Jasper to begin emptying out his study.

"Why me?" He asked. Just what I need: to get on Jasper's list.

"Now dear, just think back to when you and Alice got here, I seem to remember Edward being displaced," Esme pointed out.

Jasper glared at Alice, "Woman!"

"And," she added, "since Laurent and Bella are guests of Edward, it only seems fair."

I wanted to feel bad, but I was amused. It felt like I was getting him and Alice back for trying to steal Bella, which I might reluctantly admit that I didn't believe now. I guess this made us even.

Esme put her hand on his shoulder trying not to look amused, "Calm down Jasper, you can put your things in Carlisle's office." She broke out in a grin and I wondered how Carlisle would take it.

"Do you want some help, man?" I asked in my amusement.

"No, I think I'm going to get Alice to help," he said as he smirked at her.

They filed upstairs and I sat down on the couch with Esme.

"We were considering going back to Ithaca, but in the end we all decided to stay here. The hospital welcomed Carlisle back without hesitation and the kids didn't really want to start fresh just yet. Now of course because of you eye color right now, you really can't enroll in the high school with the rest of them, but you're welcome stay here at home with me and Bella." Esme rambled on.

"What makes you so sure that Bella wants to stay?"

"Because I have faith that things will work out. And hope, lots of hope. You've gotten Bella through a lot, you just need to have a little faith yourself."

I nodded.

"There really isn't a reason to make Jasper move, I don't-"

Alice came bounding down the stair, "That means we get to go shopping!" The pitch of her voice climbed with ever syllable.

"-have anything," I finished anticlimactically. Alice dove onto the couch so that she was sitting right next to me making Esme laugh.

"Bella told me that you picked out Chanel! We are going to have so much fun together I can see it. We need to get you measured and oh, there's so much to do! You need sunglasses now, look at yourself, red eyes! Come on!" She pulled me off the couch and dragged me over to the computer. She was so exuberant.

We probably would have fun together, I always did like fashion. Well, not so much that I liked it but that I had an eye for what looked good.

"I bet you'd love this pair I saw in the most recent A|X catalogue, oh, and those pants..." She went on and on pointing at various things on the computer screen.

"Those are nice, but I don't have any money."

"That's okay, actually, I set you up with an account while you and Bella were away. It's been earning dividends for a week and a half now, so trust me, you'll have plenty of money soon."

It was stunning to see how much faith this family had that Bella and I would return and that we would be staying.

"Will you keep doing that? I mean, investing money for me?" I asked, "Oh course I'll give you back whatever it was that you initially invested."

She offered a compromise, "How about this, I'll do your money... if you keep shopping with me."

"Deal."

Outside I could hear the sounds of someone running home. And then kissing... and more kissing, and then moaning.

"Baby, you should have seen me handle those wolves," Emmett told Rosalie and then I heard clothes ripping.

She moaned, "Oh, that is so hot, I bet you showed them." Then there was more moaning and kissing and clothes being torn and I looked up to see Alice laughing silently at my discomfort at the situation.

"Is it always like that?"

"Ever since I've lived here, that's how it's been. You get used to it," she said and her laughter wasn't so silent anymore. "Look at your face! HA HA HA!"

That was the third time today that someone had made a comment like that. Just then Carlisle walked in the door with a little smirk on his face, "Laurent, I wanted a few words with you, please?" He saw the look of discomfort on my face, "I have something to show you away from the house, far away." He raised his eyebrows at me and I was by his side in a flash.

"What's up?"

"I wanted to show you the Quileute border. It's a few miles from here," he said as he nodded enthusiastically and knowingly.

Carlisle explained to me that under no uncertain terms was I to have any sort of slip-up while we were all in Forks. It would violate the treaty. I started to tell him about David but he stopped me and told me that Bella already told him. He didn't want me to beat myself up. I wondered if should leave but Carlisle told me that he had faith in me. I realized that he and Esme were very good for each other. He asked me if I had any intentions of returning to Irina in Alaska and, no, I did not ever intend to 'go home' to Irina. All in all, I really liked Carlisle. I really liked that he didn't speak condescendingly to me at all. Next to him, I was the oldest person in this family but aside from Bella, I was the weakest and Carlisle was willing to accept me any way.

I managed to learn more about love, friendship, family, and humanity in the last few weeks than I had in the last two and a half centuries. This was a good place to be and I felt like I could truly belong here.

~o~x~o~x~o~

We all crowded around Alice, except for Emmett and Rosalie, who were still away but thankfully further from the house. We watched Alice's facial expressions like a T.V. screen. We knew she was getting visions of Bella and Edward. It all started when she started gasping in surprise every couple of minutes and we begged her to tell us what was happening but she wouldn't.

Then she would sigh.

"Laurent, will you get the door?" Alice asked even though there was no knock yet. I got up and about half-way to the door the knock came. I smiled to myself, Alice really was something.

I put my hand on the door knob and opened it slowly, I had no idea who it could be. Needless to say, I was stunned to see Irina standing in front of me. I didn't know what to say and it had been almost two months since the day I left. She threw her arms around me and held me tight.

"Why are you here?" We both asked at the same time.

I pushed her away gently and gestured for her to go first, it wouldn't hurt to hold back a little.

"I came to find you, I was afraid that something happened to you and then there was that call and you said about killing Bella and I was so worried but then no one heard from you again," she rambled on and on and I had half a mind to tune her out but decided against it. Apparently I did miss something, "...do you love her?" She paused from her ramblings to give me a sad look.

"Uh, what?" I said and I shook my head a little to try to clear my thoughts.

"I smell someone all over you, is it... is it... is she? Is that why you left?" She was misconstruing everything. Part of me just wanted her to believe that and just leave, but I couldn't do that. I had to set her straight.

"I left because we're not right for each other. There's something missing and I don't know what it is but I didn't think it was fair to string you along so I left. I'm so sorry that I've hurt you, and I'm know that you see me as your mate but I can't be. I left thinking that maybe I just needed time or distance or something and I thought, just maybe, I might come back if things started to make sense but they don't. And for us, they never will." It hurt to say those words and I wish that the Cullens weren't all behind me. I looked over my shoulder but everyone must have left to give us privacy. I was grateful.

"For us? But not for whoever has their scent all over you?" She looked crestfallen.

"You're probably smelling Bella," she opened he mouth to interrupt but I held up my hand to silence her, I didn't want her to misunderstand any longer, "while Bella and I have gotten very close over the last few weeks, there is nothing romantic about our friendship. In fact, Bella is off with Edward somewhere right now. I know this may hurt, but I didn't leave you for anyone."

I motion her to proceed, I knew there had to be more.

"Please," was all she said. It made me think of what Bella said to Edward. I wondered if Bella was making the same plight to Edward. There was no doubt that her's would be better received than Irina's.

"Please, just come home. I'll do whatever you need, we can live anyway you want, just... anything! Please!" She begged.

"I'm sorry, Irina, I can't. It's not fair to you or to me." I put my hand on the side of her face and just held it there as I looked into her eyes. She mistook my gesture and leaned into me and kissed me. It was a slow and pleading kiss. In a way, it reminded me of the kiss that Bella and I shared in that every movement felt off and every breath of her's that entered my mouth was wrong and now I knew that for sure.

"Please," she said as her final plea.

I just shook my head 'no'.

She took off running and I never saw her again. I sat on the front porch steps and contemplated my love life. I wondered if someday I would find someone special. Bella showed me how unexpectedly things can happen and the Cullens showed me the importance of faith and I had to have faith that he would to come to me someday. After all, I had time.

ooooo

A/N: Want more? Check out my newest story, Vendetta... it's deliciously DARK.

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	15. Kiss

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

Chapter 15: Bella- Kiss

So there we stood with every inch of our bodies touching. For hours, there was no movement and no words were spoken. Night fell around us but they only that happened between us was our breathing. I counted his breaths and I would continue to count them until words came to one of us.

...Four thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

...Five thousand three hundred and forty-four.

...Six thousand five hundred and twenty.

I knew what I wanted to say, but I was at a point that I refused to beg. I would let him find his words first. The longer we stood, the more I became afraid that words he had were not the ones I would want to hear. I held my breath.

Finally he spoke, "I missed you." Every striation of color in his iris's bored into mine. Our impasse was broken. He was waiting for an answer.

Suddenly, every double molecule of oxygen that I breathed in incensed me, all I could remember was that I was angry with him.

"How dare you have the nerve to miss me when you were the one that left!" I screamed. My words were like a slap in the face, he looked abashed. I couldn't yet feel bad for him.

"And how dare you strip me of any choice! Didn't you care about what leaving would do to me?" I had never yelled at him when I was a human, wouldn't it be a comedic twist of fate that our first fight was while we made up?

"I just wanted what was best for you! I didn't want this for you!" He put his hand over my silent heart and pinched the bridge of his nose with the other hand. Suddenly, he couldn't meet my eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I just knew that if I wasn't in your life that this wouldn't happen and I was wrong."

"But it's not for you to decide who is or isn't in my life. And it's not for you to decide for me to a vampire, which, by the way is irreversible and the decision was inevitable. I know that you want to think that I made this decision to be with you, but it wasn't like that," and then I added sternly, "and it is NOT about immortality!"

"I know that, and I'm sorry that I ever thought that. I was grieving." I stared at him incredulously.

"HA!" I spat, "You were grieving! You knew where to find me! You could have just come back anytime you wished, unlike me, I had no idea where you-"

He cut me off with his lips. They moved against mine fiercely. They moved more fiercely than he ever dared to before. It was deep and passionate and fueled by my anger and his tortured sorrow. I tried to break free for just a second.

"I'm trying to-" But he wouldn't let me. His tongue took the opportunity and entered my mouth, further deepening the kiss. I shoved at his chest.

"-yell at you!" He was back again and I didn't fight his as hard this time. I weaved my fingers into his hair and pulled him closer. He had one hand on the small of my back holding me tight to him and the other tangled in my hair. I couldn't help but moan into his mouth.

Tongues fought for dominance, hands searched endlessly and time stood still.

"Mine," he said after a few breathless pants. I could only nod in agreement.

Finally, the kisses slowed to a more loving and soul-stirring connection. We stood there, were we had stood all night, and just gazed into one another's eyes. Little kisses resumed but we never broke eye contact. Steadily the slower kissed deepened again. He lifted me and laid us both on the ground without breaking the kiss.

"I need you," he said and then paused as the sun was rose. "I need to be with you."

"If you want me, then you can't leave me again. I will always love you with all of my heart, but I can't be yanked around. I need you, too, I need you to stay."

"I promise that I'll stay as long as you want me to."

We laid out in our meadow as the sun climbed in the sky. We fell into easy banter and conversation. After a while he propped himself up on his elbow and leaned over me and gently kissed me.

"So, this thing with Laurent... " I didn't know what to say, I was here, wasn't I? How could he doubt... I thought he said...?

"I... I... he just showed up one and day we've been inseparable ever since... I mean, do you ever just feel like, like you're on the same page with someone? I swear, there's nothing more than that." He surprised me when he started laughing. "Ugh! Why are you laughing!"

"So when you guys were making out in my driveway, you didn't want to jump him right then?" I smacked his arms when I realized that he was kidding.

"You're the only person that I want to 'jump'." To prove my point I climbed on top of him so that I straddled him. He let out an uncomfortable chuckle like he was remembering something. I leaned forward to kiss him but he rolled us over. He laid somewhat on top of me and stroked my hair. I could tell that he wanted to say something, so I waited.

I reached up and traced his face, I memorized the exact curve of his eyebrows, the exact angle of his cheekbones and jaw. I took in the precise color of his lips and the many different flecks of color were in his eyes. He looked like he was doing the same thing to me.

"What's on your mind?" I finally asked.

"I want you." He said it like it was something that he couldn't have.

"Have me." I scooted closer to him and kissed him.

"I want you but I want to marry you first. Will you marry me?"

If I were human, I would tell him 'no'. If I weren't immortal, I would tell him 'not now'. But this moment in time was no different, now, than any other. As I watched eternity stretch out in front of me I realized that there was no other moment like this, yet time would always be the same. The answer was obvious.

"Yes."

He rolled on top of me and kissed me and while the kisses were less guarded than when I was human, he still held back to be congruent with wanting to wait until after we married. I vowed to work on him between now and then.

He pulled and said, "I miss your blush, you're even harder to read now... Come on, I have something for you," he got up and pulled me to my feet. "It's at the house."

"Good, we can check on Laurent." Why did he get that goofy grin on his face when Laurent was mentioned? "You do realize that he's going to kick your ass... and I'm going to let him."

"If you let him, I wont give you your gift," he teased.

"You know how I feel about gifts, right? Besides, if I said please, you'd give it to me."

He huffed, "Yeah, I probably would."

"Hey, go easy on him? He's not exactly... well, he doesn't enjoy fighting."

The run to the house was short and after we crossed the river we slowed to a walk and held hands as we approached the house. Laurent was sitting on the front steps. When he saw took in the sight of us walking hand in hand, a sad smile overtook his features.

Edward squeezed my hand and told me to go to him. Edward told me he'd be upstairs and I gave him a quick kiss before joining Laurent on the steps.

I sat down and leaned my head against his shoulder. He didn't say anything for the longest time, so I linked my arm with his.

"Tell me," I said softly.

He pursed his lips, "Irina came by yesterday after you left with Edward. We talked things over," he let out a short humorless laugh, "and she kissed me and there was nothing. I thought that maybe I loved her before and there was just... nothing. It completely put everything in perspective for me. Everything's making more sense to me now."

I wasn't quite sure what that meant, I figured he'd tell me in due time. For once the option of him leaving didn't worry me, I knew he wouldn't. Something held him here and for some strange reason, I didn't think it was me.

"Suddenly, I get this feeling... like I'm waiting for something but I can't quite figure out what it is. I can feel it coming, I can just feel it."

Hmmm... things are suddenly making sense but he can't figure it out. He sounded like such a guy, no wonder they're not known for expressing their emotions.

"Hey," I nudged his shoulder with mine, "would it make you feel better to kick Edward's ass now?"

"It would definitely help to get my mind off of things." I left to go find Edward with a promise to return.

As I walked up the stairs I trailed my hands along the banister and thought about how I'd never have to suffer getting a splinter again, it was a silly thought, but it made me smile.

"Edward?"

"Up here, love." I followed the sound of his voice and crossed into his room to find him kneeling on one knee holding out a ring box.

"It's my gift for you and nothing would please me more than if you would wear it."

I really should have expected it, but it still surprised me. I walked over to him and he took my left hand in his and repeated his earlier question, "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," I told him again, and he slipped the ring on my finger and it immediately started to cool to my body temperature. It would be mine forever and so would Edward. I was overcome with emotion and Edward stood and took me in his arms and he promised me forever over and over.

"I actually came up here to summon you to get you ass kicked."

"Huh, well that's romantic."

We both laughed together and went downstairs where Laurent waited for us.

~o~x~o~x~o~

"Alright, old man, are you ready?" Edward asks. I smiled at how Edward acknowledge his age. I know it was a pet peeve of his to be spoken to as if he were younger than he is. God help anyone that would call him 'son'. I laughed a dim memory of him growling at an older maid that once cleaned our hotel room; she called him 'son', but not twice.

Laurent charged at Edward when he was distracted by my laughter. The boys scrambled on their feet until they wrestled their way to the ground. Eventually, Edward got the upper hand in their brawl. Well, it wasn't as much of a brawl as it was the first of many fighting lessons.

I cleared my throat to make Edward let up. He maneuver in such a way that Laurent could come around and pin him and just as he was about to do it, Laurent looked at me suspiciously.

He narrowed his eyes and said, "You! You did that!"

Edward stifled a amused smile as Laurent dove for me and easily tackled me to the ground.

"I can't believe you!" He shouted and then he began tickling me relentlessly.

Edward couldn't hold in his amusement any longer and was doubled over in laughter as Laurent continued to torture me.

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A/N: Although this is probably the chapter you have all been waiting for, this is not the end of the story. Please stay with me as Laurent sorts out his love life, too. I don't know about you, but Laurent is really growing on me.

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	16. Uncomfortable

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 16: Laurent- Uncomfortable

The rest of the week passed relatively uneventfully. It was nice just to sit and not need to go anywhere and not be in search of anything. In a strange way, I found it comforting that Edward could read my thoughts. It was like I could share my inner peace and turmoil with someone. Although I was sure of my feelings now, I still couldn't get up the nerve to tell Bella. I know that she wouldn't disprove and in fact, I was sure she would be supportive. Still, I sat silently with Edward, the only one who was wise to my innermost thoughts. All he said was to have patience and that he knew fate had big plans for me. I'd have to take his word for it.

Charlie called this morning, he said he wanted to bring a box of clothes by for Bella. He knew that Bella couldn't be there but he still wanted to be able to be in her life in some way. I wondered how her own human scent would affect her. I decided to put it out of my mind. Bella and Edward were preparing for a 'picnic' in their meadow so that she would be out of the house when Charlie arrived.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Bella asked again.

She was standing in the middle of Edward's room, which she claimed for her own after his marriage proposal. I walked in and sat on the edge of the new bed and she scowled at it. Alice bought it after Bella and I left after the incident with her father, I guess you could say she was hopeful.

"No, no, remember you said you needed to work on Edward?" I patted the bed to drive home my point. She sat beside me and rolled her eyes.

"He's driving me insane! The way he kisses me and sometimes, just sometimes the way he touches me. We both know he's holding back and as much as it may be about his 'I grew up back in the day' thing, part of me thinks if about him getting some sick pleasure from denying himself."

We had this discussion often. All around the house at night couples were persuing one another and Bella put her best effort forward to try to crack Edward, but would end up in my room more often than not pouting.

"Why is he like that!" She would huff, "It must be a guy thing!"

"Honey, I don't think it's a guy thing," at least I hoped it wasn't, "I think it's an Edward thing."

She ran her finger along the front of her teeth and dipped it in so that she cut it on her teeth. We watched as her granite skin knitted back together.

"You still have to tell your father about your engagement. I know you wish you could see him today."

"Will you tell him for me? I want you to."

"No, because you need an incentive to get yourself under control, I think you should work your hardest and that way you can tell him yourself. That's what you want, I know it." And I did know. I thought back to the night after we ran from the hotel in Indiana. How she cried and begged for her father in her sleep. I know that she wanted him in her life for as long as possible.

She nodded and said, "You know me so well."

~o~x~o~x~o~

Alice called Charlie to let him know that Bella and Edward were clear of the house and he told us he was on his way. Within ten minutes he was nervously knocking at the door and I let him. His racing heartbeat humored me.

He gave me the once-over and took an additional step away. Alice skipped to his side and took the box from his arms.

"Come in, Charlie," Esme came over and took his hand and led him to the couch. "Sit and relax."

"Yeah, in a house full of vampires," he muttered under his breath, I don't think he thought we could hear.

"Don't worry, Charlie," Alice assured as she came back down the stairs, "I don't see you getting attacked today." He nodded, but wouldn't understand the full weight of her statement.

We sat in an uncomfortable silence waiting on Charlie to talk first. It was the idea to let him take the lead today. Charlie sat there and looked around at anything but me, Alice and Esme. Jasper was away hunting, Carlisle was at work, and Rose and Emmett were off doing what they did best. Finally his gaze landed on me and I fought the urge to squirm.

"So..." he drew out the 'o', "You're the one that kidnapped my daughter, huh?"

I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say, 'no sir, she willing came with me even though you would think she was dead', I had a feeling that wouldn't go over well.

He busted out laughing, "Just messing with you, there..."

"Laurent," I filled in for him. He went to mock-punch my shoulder and subtly moved with his fist so that he wouldn't break it. Two could play at that game. I growled at him and he flinched. I let his heart rate increase a bit before I said, "Gotcha!" We all laughed.

"I do have a serious question, did you steal my soap, son?" I had half a mind to growl at him for real this time.

"Laurent, don't," Alice pleaded. I took at deep breath in and then let it out in a large gust.

"Fine."

"Okay," Charlie said slowly, "Anyways, so I was wondering... You're not a new vampire," he stumbled over the word, "right? Why are your eyes still red."

The man really knew how to cut to the chase, I could tell he was a police officer through and through.

"I had a slip," I shamefully admitted. My memory would never allow me to forget the precise taste of the man's blood. "Bella and I were hunting and there was a human..."

He looked shaken. Esme took his hand again, "Charlie, please don't hold it against him, we've all had our slips. Except for Rose, Carlisle, and Bella, and we're going to do everything possible to keep her from living through the agony of slipping."

"Even you slipped?" He asked her.

"It was a long time ago and I cried for weeks." Esme's admission seemed to soften his features and he didn't look at me so harshly anymore.

Alice phone rang one and she answered, "I think it will work," she led straight off, not waiting for whoever was on the other end of the line to speak. She hung up and filled us in on the plan.

~o~x~o~x~o~

Moments later we were standing in front of the floor to ceiling window waiting for Edward and Bella to arrive. We would wait on one side of the glass to protect Charlie, and Bella would be outside with help from Edward. She would be able to hear him and I would tell him what she was saying, and we would all hope for the best.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Charlie asked.

"Alice thinks so." One day we would have to tell him a little more about ourselves.

"Here they come," Alice said about a minute before they arrived. Edward was holding Bella's hand firmly and when they got here they stood about fifteen feet from the window.

"And she can hear me from in here?" He asked in disbelief and I nodded.

"H... Hey, Bells," He greeted her, sounding unsure.

"She says she's sorry and that she wishes things were different," I conveyed the rest of the conversation in a similar manner.

Bella looked up at Edward and he nodded. He took his hands and moved them to grip her shoulders and they began to move closer until they stood only a few feet away.

"There's something I want to tell you, dad. Edward and I are going to get married."

A look of sadness overtook Charlie's features and he took a moment before his features changes to that of resignation, he spoke, "When?"

She shrugged, "I want to wait until I can control myself enough that you can be there to give me away."

Slowly, Charlie raised his hand to the glass to try to reach out to her in any way possible. Bella hesitated but stepped forward with determination. She placed her hand on the glass and lined to up with her father's.

"She can feel your warmth through the glass, sir."

It didn't take long for it to become too much for Bella. She took her hand from the glass and covered her nose and mouth with it and took off with Edward close behind her.

"That was really fast!" Charlie shouted, sounded thoroughly impressed.

"What's impressive," Esme said, "is her increased control. No newborn could have left you alive like that. She is so determined to get to normal and she's doing really well. We might get to have the wedding sooner than we thought."

Charlie slapped his forehead and sank back down into the couch. "Marriage," he groaned.

Esme sat down with him, her mothering instinct was in full force. "Charlie, Carlisle and I have been married now for over eighty years. Vampires just don't fall out of love. Everything will be okay," she promised.

"Eighty years? Okay, I know it's not proper to ask a lady her age but..." He phrased in such a way that he wasn't really asking.

"It's okay, I'm actually 111 years old." Charlie's eyes bugged out.

"I'm 105, and so is Edward," Alice added.

"Huh, you don't say..." Charlie looked at me expectantly.

With pride I stated, "251, _son_," A look of realization dawned on his face and he laughed.

"Point taken!"

Again we all sat in silence, waiting for Charlie to lead. When he showed no signs of talking I decided to speak up.

"It really tore Bella up to leave you like she did. After I told her about it after her transformation she took it even worse. She would cry in her sleep and talk about how it wasn't fair and that she missed you."

"In her sleep, huh?" He said as he eyed me suspiciously, "What were you doing with my baby girl while she was sleeping?" People just loved to tease us, everyone had at one point or another, but I couldn't quite tell if he was or not.

"Running." Obviously.

"So you guys... uh," he squirmed in embarrassment, "uh, you guys... it wasn't like...?"

"Definitely not," I answered for the thousandth time.

As time went on, and as more people asked, I was more and more sure about the kind of person that I wanted to be with.

Charlie seemed to have to have enough for one day and soon he mentioned about a basketball game coming on soon. I walked Charlie out and promised him that Bella and I would be staying in the area for a while. I watched him drive his police cruiser down the long driveway and once again sat on the porch. I liked the solitude of it. I loved being outside, but still having the feeling of being home.

I was lost in a daydream when I started feeling that feeling again. It made my hairs stand on end. The scent of musk and soil and the outdoors, like tree bark, began to fill my nose again. It was a scent that I only smelled once before but would never ever forget.

The leaves on the ground rustled and I looked towards the direction of the sound and Jacob stepped out of from the trees.

I knew he'd come.

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A/N: Next chapter is a one-time-only chapter from the fun mind of Jacob.

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	17. Vampires Complicate Everything, Damn It!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 17: Jacob- Vampires Complicate Everything, Damn It!

Just a few weeks ago I was sitting at the movies with Bella and that schmuck Mike Newton that she brought with her. Little did I know that that was probably the easier time of my existence. It was now officially complicated. I laid in my bed with my feet hanging over the edge and thought back to the day that complicated everything. It was the first patrol that I ever smelled a vampire and it was the day I would never ever forget.

The Cullens returned shortly after Bella disappeared so we drew back into our own boundary lines, but still we ventured out a little just to be safe. On that fateful day, we were patrolling within our lines when the wind changed and brought with it the scent of vampires. Through Sam's expertise he was able to tell me there were two. It took me a few seconds to realize that I didn't realize there were two because of my newness, but because the one scent didn't register as vampiric to me at all. It smelled like tobacco and juniper.

I didn't question it, I just followed Sam's lead and soon we were coming up on a male and a female. They were fast but soon were close enough to attack. The only think that stopped the inevitable was another leech yelling about a treaty. Cullen came and stood between us and the other two trespassers. Well, they weren't trespassing, but they were close enough.

We phased back so that we could speak with the bloodsucker. I was shocked to see the female was Bella, I couldn't believe my eyes so I took a step closer.

"Jacob, don't come any close, she's not stable," Cullen said. It pissed me off; first he stopped me from killing these vampires, then he was giving me orders.

Then Sam said the words that forever changed my world, "Look at their eyes."

I glanced away from Bella's eyes just to see what Sam was talking about. I don't know what I was looking for but I certainly didn't expect to find my soul mate. The moment my eyes made contact with the man's, every fiber of gravity that held me to this earth transferred to him. I couldn't take my eyes off him. I watched as Bella clung to his arm and jealousy and despair washed through me, he couldn't be with her, could he?

Bella was speaking to me, "Jacob, you're a werewolf and you couldn't even tell me?"

"I might have if you hadn't run off with that bl- with _him_, now look at you," I started to quiver in my anger, I couldn't believe that I almost used such a derogatory term on my reason for existence. Sam helped me calm down and soon my breathing returned to normal.

"Why did you go?" I asked. I was trying to look at Bella as I spoke to her, but my gaze always found its way back to _him_. It almost hurt to look away from him. She stopped looking at me and turned her attention to Cullen and I took the opportunity to allowed my attention to go back to... I still didn't know his name.

I got lost in his eyes when he would meet mine, but he was watching all of us; Bella and Edward as they danced figuratively around one another, me as I drank him in, and Sam as he presided over all of us.

"Laurent's right," Edward said. Who knows what else he said, all I could think was 'his name is Laurent'. Laurent, Laurent, Laurent. It was a soft-sounding name, but he looked so commanding. I wanted...

Sam slapped my arm as Bella and Laurent ran away. I shook my head to try to push Laurent out of my mind as I phased with Sam. I heard Sam thinking at me.

_Okay, we need two more, we're meeting up with the Cullens to discuss the treaty in half an hour. I'm going to call for Paul and Jared. _And then he howled.

I tried to concentrate but I couldn't stop thinking about him.

_Did you just imprint? On a guy? On a vampire? _Sam thought.

_Dude, did you hear that? Jake just imprinted on a vampire! _Jared thought to Paul.

They saw the image I couldn't get from my mind, the image of Laurent and Bella standing together. They assumed I imprinted on Bella. I tried to get my mind clear, I didn't need an audience. I ran ahead to the meeting place and phased back so that I could have my head to myself.

I sat down against a tree and tried to think about what this meant. How could that work? How could we ever... be close? Did I even really want that? Surely fate would not endear a mindless killer to me. Does that mean that I was gay? I didn't think I was.

I heard the unique rhythm of Sam's footfalls as he got closer. He phased and put a hand on my shoulder, "Come on, Jacob, there will be lots of time to think things through later."

I got up and phased and Paul and Jared joined us. We flanked Sam as he stayed human and we waited to the Cullens to arrive. We watched as they filed up to us and I searched for him. There was only Bella, her bloodsucker, the doctor and another one; no Laurent. My spirits plummeted, I kind of hoped to see him. _What if he didn't want to see me_?

_Wait, you imprinted on the _guy_?_ Jared thought.

I didn't dignify him with a response, they may have a front row seat to my thoughts right now, but it didn't make it any of their business. At least, not until I wanted it to be, and I needed to figure things out first.

I tuned out the conversation until Laurent was mentioned. Apparently he was the one that bit Bella. Sam asked, no doubt for me, if Laurent would be staying in the area for a while. I was grateful for him asking. I knew that I wanted him, but I also knew that I wasn't ready for him, yet. I needed to come to terms with some things and Sam was only ensuring that Laurent would still be here when I was ready.

In a daze I watched as the Cullens walked away. Bella called out to me but I just couldn't focus. Edward pulled her along explaining that I needed time. I wondered how he knew. I heard legends about how some vampires had special powers, maybe he had one.

We didn't walk too far away before Sam ordered Paul and Jared to phase out and he phased to talk to me.

_Tough hand, huh? _He thought.

_You have no idea, _I lamented, _he's not even human!_

_You're not worried about the fact that he's a guy?_

_Next to the human thing? That's nothing! I wouldn't have believed it before, but now that it's happened it feels okay. Right, you know?_

He thought about how he felt about Emily and could only agree that imprinting was a magical and mysterious thing. He wouldn't change what he had with Emily for anything.

_Go home and talk to your dad about it, take as much time as you need. Come back when you're ready. _He thought and I took off running towards the comforts of home.

~o~x~o~x~o~

I laid in my bed for the first two days after I imprinted. Two thoughts warred. The first was that he was not human. His existence diverged from where my instincts told me was natural. He didn't have a heartbeat or body heat, I wondered if he even had a soul. It felt callous to think that, but I did. The second thought concerned my sexuality... and his for that matter. Never once had I had any inclination towards a man and I wondered about him, would he accept me?

Between my warring thoughts I couldn't get his scent out of my mind, juniper and tobacco. I left the house for the first time in two days and I went to the spot where I chased him down and almost killed him. I cringed _hard _at the thought. When I got there I sat in the spot where he stood and just breathed him in and let his scent clear my mind. The only downside was that Bella's scent was right there, too. She smelled like lavender scented bleach, but nonetheless bleach. I sat there all night and on the fourth day since I imprinted I came home again.

"Hey, Jake what's gotten into you?" My dad asked as I walked through the door. I took a long breath in and let it out in a huff as I flopped onto the old couch.

"Dad, I imprinted." There was nothing that I couldn't tell my dad but this made me slightly nervous, I mean, it's not exactly traditional.

"Tell me about her, where'd you meet her."

"He's a vampire and I met him when I hunted him down and almost killed him. He was covered under the Treaty." I didn't flinch quite so hard that time, but still I did. I held my breath and waited for his answer.

He looked thoughtful. Thankful? A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Dad? Why on earth are you crying?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Son, there is a legend, passed down for generations that the wolves and the cold ones will unite in an unbreakable bond. I always thought that the treaty was the bond and that our tribe was stronger for it as we bestowed mercy on our enemies, but now I see that it was only a stepping stone for greater alliances. Jacob, you have been chosen to bridge this alliance with the cold ones. It is a great honor," he said in his most chiefly voice.

Part of me did feel the honor to be picked to the be the 'stuff of legends', but a large, and probably irrational part of me was irked. It felt like fate was using my own personal love life as a tool. On some level, I felt defensive on Laurent's behalf because of it. All in all, it was a strange way to feel, but that is how I felt. I stormed off to my room to let the information stew along with the rest as my renewed memory of his scent badgered me.

It was amazing the way my body responded to his scent. So, with curiosity, I let thoughts of him and his scent swirl in my head as I let my hands act of their own accord. On the fifth day I woke up to find my room noticeably warmer and I decided to get out and get some fresh air.

It wasn't long before I found a trail of his that paralleled another vampire scent. It ran along the border and I allowed myself to hope that just maybe he came to find me first.

I was afraid to move, what if he came again? He couldn't cross the line. So I stayed right there and waited for him. The sun had set and rose and set again. Soon my stomach was screaming at me and I ran home to get a bite to eat before I went to find him myself.

~o~x~o~x~o~

To be completely honest, I was terrified to approach the vampire lair. Yes, I was a werewolf, but there was only one of me and nine of them. It took some time to build the nerve, but eventually I got close enough that I could hear them all inside and saw that the police cruiser was in their driveway. I decided to wait until Charlie left. I stayed still and watched as Laurent walked Charlie out. If Charlie could come out unscathed then surely I could. I watched Laurent as he sat down on the steps and seemed to get lost in a thought. The pull I felt from him was so strong, I had to work to restrain myself. I watched him from a distance for a few minutes until it got to be too much and I began to walk towards him.

I was afraid to be so direct as to look him in the eye, but I couldn't look away. It was hard to believe that this was the only the second I ever saw him. He was smiling at me. He was smiling at me!

"I knew you'd come," he said in a voice that was so smooth yet rough at the same time. Like rubbing your hand against the grain of crushed velvet and pulling it back again. I was stunned into stupidity and suddenly I felt inadequate and insecure and juvenile... and completely in awe.

"I couldn't not." Did that even make sense? I'm not even sure that's what I said.

"Tu vois à mon âme." Look, I stunned him to stupidity, too. He wasn't even speaking English. "Sit with me."

I would have complied even if I didn't want to, oh, but I wanted to. I strode over to him with renewed confidence. Subtly, or so I thought, I breathed in his scent.

"You don't smell like a vampire to me," I said thickly.

"Well, you don't smell like food to me," he replied.

It's not that I didn't have a lot to say to him, a lot to ask him about himself, I just didn't want to complicate the silence with words in that moment. Anything I could have said sounded trivial in my mind. What do you say to the love of your life?

"I didn't think I was gay." Oh yeah, there was a good start. Would he look at me funny if I put my foot in my mouth right now? Or should I wait until later? Surely, it couldn't hurt. The thoughts jumbled into a new language of incoherency that was only untellable to the inhabitants of Smooshy-I'm-so-rediculously-in-love/awe-that-I-can't-think-straight land. I forgot to buy a roundtrip trip ticket, I was stuck there.

"My boy, you have a lot to learn about love," he said as he searched me. "You fall in love with people, not genders. It's not about being gay."

He was amazing, we'd only spoken a handful of words and he was already soothing to me. He took my hand and although it was cold, it was not uncomfortable. It was like walk walking into a well air-conditioned building on a hot summer day, his cold was refreshing next to my heat.

"Tell me how it is that you see right through to my soul," he asked. As I heard him speak of his soul, I wondered to myself how I could ever question that he had one. Of course he did, I was imprinted onto it and he was imprinted onto my own.

I told him everything about imprinting and about what the legends said.

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A/N: Did anyone see Jacob imprint on Laurent back in Chapter 13? It's there, I promise.

**Tu vois à mon âme (fr.)- You see to my soul.

If 'Jacob-imprinting-on-a-guy' is your thing, I suggest you check the works of Jack Stall (just stick his name in the site search engine) Start with Morning Light. It is an excellent story. Leave him a review and tell him clglover sent you.

Thanks for reading my story(plus the me-on-a-soapbox A/N)! Feel free to comment or PM.


	18. Fate

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 18: Laurent- Fate

Can you imagine be so fated to someone? Not just bonded and bound, but fated? I was completely in awe. I thought back to what Edward said about fate having big plans for me. Suddenly, I realized- Edward knew! How could he be just so blasé about overhearing something like that? He listened to my crazy thoughts all week and couldn't have given me something? No, no, wise Edward said 'be patient and wait'. I'd like to smack the shit of him. Or at least try to, it didn't work out so well the last time I threaten to kick the shit out of him. I felt lighter, happier, and floating. My thoughts bounced back and forth between my boy and smacking the shit out of Edward. My boy was winning, of course.

He left to go on patrol, he hadn't been out for the last week as he figured out everything in his head. No, I was not 'stunned stupid' as he put it, but I'd miss the kid when he wasn't around. I loved how funny he was, he made me laugh so hard. He was genuine and crafty and had such a happy disposition. Maybe it was just for me, but his honesty was so raw. More than once I wondered if he'd meant to say something aloud. That's what I found so endearing about him, his uncensored mind.

If I had met him 150 or 200 years ago and he would have told me he loved me, there was no doubt in my mind that I would have gone with the flow. Not saying that I wouldn't now, but now I was old enough to know to take my time. Take things one at a time, not because I was unsure, but to cherish them. To completely immerse myself in the feeling of falling in love, especially knowing that this time was the real thing. I did say I had time, right?

I was anxious to talk to Bella, she and Edward were going to be back anytime now. I got up from the porch steps for the first time in hours to go inside. I laughed to myself at how when Jacob got up he had to stretch. It was one of those humans things I didn't personally remember. Sure, Bella would stretch, but I never really watched her body as it moved.

"Laurent, can you help me with something?" Alice asked.

"Sure."

"Can you get that book down for me? You know, I can run and have all this super strength, but I still can't reach," she chuckled to herself. I reached up and grabbed the book she was talking about.

"Thanks," said as she swiped her hand over the cover and nodded to herself, "So, I'd love to ask you all about your chat just now, but I know you want to talk to Bella. I know that we didn't start off on the right foot, but I wanted to know if you could forgive me."

"I already have." She had a huge smile on her face and wrapped her arms delicately around my waist, "You really do have a peculiar scent."

I pulled my arm up under my nose and smelled my own skin and then shrugged, it smelled normal to me...

~o~x~o~x~o~

I waited in my room. It was still relatively empty, but it did have a couch. In the privacy of my own room, I smelled my hand that I held Jacob's with. His scent was still there.

Soon, Edward and Bella came back from their trip to the meadow. Alice anxiously sent Bella up to see me. I listened as Bella's footfalls traveled up the stairs and closer to my room.

"Come in."

She opened the door and backed in and shut the door gently. As she turned around she jumped back again and looked alarmed.

I looked around to be sure, then asked, "What are you doing?"

She was backed up against the door and was almost primal in her confusion and fear.

"Don't you smell that!" She half-yelled. "It's those wolves, I smelled one of them outside and I was a little worried, but I smell it in here, too. It's faint, but it's there."

I couldn't hold in my laughter.

"Why are you laughing at me?" She said looking hurt.

"I'm not laughing at you, really. More of the difference of how they seem to smell to you. I like it," I finished with a laugh.

She looked at me like I had just sprouted another arm or two, but came to sit with me. Subtly, and comically in my opinion, she leaned forward and sniffed me.

"So... I found my mate today." I wondered if she's make the connection so quickly, or if she would but would dismiss it.

"Just like that? Gees, I leave you alone for one day and look at that!"

I shrugged with mock nonchalance.

"Oh no! Not my dad!" She said playfully.

"Definitely not," I said with a growing grin. "Actually, you're on the right track. Ever since that last kiss with Irina, I had been tossing some things around in my mind, and I'm sure it's nothing that wasn't already there, but I've come to terms with my sexuality. Then just a few days later, he shows up again..."

She didn't even bat an eye after all I had said, further confirming my suspicions that she would be supportive.

"You know him," I hinted.

She took another sniff and wrinkled her nose, "One of the wolves?" She asked a little unsure.

"Jacob." My boy. I told her about him, which was silly because, as I said, she knew him. To be honest, I was letting myself feel the giddiness for a moment as I remember how it lit up Jacob's face.

"Wait a minute, this is the same Jake that had a crush on me before everything happened? I didn't know he was gay." She had a look of concentration on her face, maybe she was looking for the 'signs' that she missed.

"You know, I really don't think he is, I think he just loves me." He said he'd try to come by later. I couldn't go see him on the reservation, but I was okay with that because I knew he couldn't stay away. He said so himself.

"Back up a minute, how does that happen?"

I repeated everything he told me about imprinting and the legends.

"So he just saw you and knew? When did this happen?" She asked in disbelief.

"When Edward stopped him and the other wolf from eating us. You were a little busy making goo-goo eyes at Edward." At that she smacked my shoulder and shrugged, she couldn't deny it.

"That's crazy how the legends prophesize about 'that the wolves and the cold ones will unite in an unbreakable bond'," she quoted. "How do you feel about it?"

I let out a loud laugh that I'd been holding. "When Jacob confessed to me that, in a way, he felt angry and used by fate, I had to hold in my laughter. No, never would I laugh at his love for me, but that my boy felt overprotective of our love. I'm not sure what he's protecting it from," I said as my laughter died down.

"Your boy? That's sweet, although I'm not sure I'd use the word 'boy' to describe Jake. He's so big."

"It's not about him physically. It's his mind, he's so innocent and untainted and... young." I thought back to his physical size, he was taller than me. An anticipation grew in me.

"I guess the only thing I worry about is your safety. Maybe it's just because I'm a newborn, but his scent just puts me on edge. I feel like my instincts are so acute right now."

"I know he misses you, maybe if he comes by later you can say hi? By the way, we need to talk about Edward. He had to know, did he say something to you?"

"No, he didn't say a word, but he kept getting this goofy smirk on his face anytime your name was mentioned."

It was as I suspected, Edward knew.

I had an idea come to me, but I heard footsteps and a heartbeat running towards the house. Jacob was coming earlier than I expected. Bella and I walked downstairs, arm-in-arm the way we always did, to see him. As we stepped out of the Bella stood slightly behind me, like she said, it was just her instincts.

"I was patrolling with Embry today," Jacob starting explaining, "but I was getting on his nerves. He told me I should come see you for a bit, so here I am," gesturing to himself as he finished. His hair was cut short and he wore nothing but those black cut-off shorts. His eyes darted to Bella.

"She's okay, come here." They both seemed to have a mutual fear of one another. I walked so that we could all sit on the steps, it felt like an area of comfort for me. I sat in the middle so that Bella sat to my left and Jacob sat to my right. I put my hand over his like I did early today. Really, I wanted to snuggle right up to him and feel his warmth all over.

"Bells, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before, I wanted to but I can't go against the Sam's orders like that. He said he did it to keep you safe. Part of me thinks you would have been safer if you'd have known, you wouldn't have run away."

Bella changed me when she came with me. If I would have run into Jacob before Bella, I wouldn't have not have been the same person and he wouldn't have imprinted on me. I would not have been worthy of his love before Bella's friendship. He didn't realize yet how important it was for Bella to come with me, I was only just realizing it myself. Beyond all of that; without Bella, I wouldn't have been under the protection of the treaty and he would have killed me anyway. Talk about tragedy averted. Suddenly, I was becoming a big believer in fate. I squeezed his hand a little. I was a little overwhelmed by it all.

"It's okay, things worked out the way they should," Bella said and she was more right than she knew. "I'll let you boys have some time alone, don't do anything I'm not allowed to do," she grumbled as she stood. I guess she didn't make any progress with Edward today.

"Hey," I said.

"Well, I wasn't missing anything with being out all week. It feels good to stretch my muscles." Suddenly, I was anxious to stretch a bit myself.

"You want to go somewhere? We could run..." and get some privacy, I finished in my head.

We took off running down the long Cullen driveway. Jacob wrapped his shorts around his leg and phased to run. At the end of the drive way we leapt across the highway and continued to run halfway to Seattle. We stopped deep into the forest, the trees were thick and the air was tinted green from the weak sun shining through the leaves. He phased back and dressed and we were completely alone.

What better time than now?

I stalked forward with purpose, my eyes never left his. We I reached him I took his left hand in my right and pulled him close to me. I knew he wouldn't reject me, he couldn't. I quickly dropped my gaze to his lips and back up again as to silently tell him my plans. A huge grin spread across his face as he angled it towards mine so that we could meet in the middle.

As his lips brushed against mine, his warmth spread through my body and I needed more. I deepened the kiss carefully and pulled his body closer to mine. Our love was an enigma, as much as I wanted to take things slow and enjoy every sensation, he made me want to abandon those ideas. I just wanted him.

ooooo

Thanks for reading my story! Also, thanks to those who set my story to their alerts or favorites lists. Feel free to comment or PM.


	19. In Time

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 19: Bella- In Time

I sat in my room. The box of clothes that my dad brought wasn't even open, yet it was hurting me. My scent was overwhelming. I wanted so badly to get past this newborn nonsense. I laughed to myself at the thought of it being nonsense. My throat was begging me to find the nearest human and suck every drop of soothing blood out of them. The scent was so strong and my urges were so instinctive that I felt like I was alone, yet I wasn't. Edward was here with me.

Moments ago I had left Laurent and Jacob to their own devices. I intended to confront Edward about the fact that he knew and that he didn't say a thing to either me or Laurent, especially Laurent. But as I walked up the stairs, the scent of the clothes erased all thoughts from my brain. I had to admit that I smelled better to me than my dad did, although he was inside the house and I was outside. I remembered that it was his steady, welcoming heartbeat that had me running. I held my nose and mouth for fear that I would take that deep breath that would send me over the edge. Should I take that breath now? Would it help?

"Rome wasn't built in a day, love," Edward would say, but all I could remember was the look on my dad's face knowing that he wanted to be there for me but couldn't. I wanted to give that to him. I couldn't help but feel like maybe it was all psychogenic, if I could just will it away...

So I took the breath and pulled in the air that was impregnated with my human scent. I was enough to make me scream and I almost did.

"How can you stand it!" I whined to Edward.

"Imagine kissing it."

If I had any blood in my body, I would have blanched. In fact, I did not feel as if I had any blood in me. I would need to hunt after this.

"Don't you think it's kind of ironic how you can read everyone's mind but mine and how Jacob and Laurent are together. It's so serendipitous."

"The idea of finding something so perfect that you weren't even looking for... that is exactly how I would describe. I've been thinking about your silence, I think you have a talent." I looked at him with curiosity as I wanted him to continue.

"Like you or Alice? Well, if it is, it's a boring one."

"Well, we'll work on it and see about it."

Hours later, it didn't feel so boring and I cursed myself for calling it such. It was frustrating, if it even was there. I sat on the couch with Alice right next to me, she was happy to help. She pulled a laptop out and was shopping and, for the most part, ignoring me as I tried to extent my silence to her as Edward listened to see if her thoughts would go away. Nothing happened, further confirming my suspicions that I didn't really have any sort of talent.

~o~x~o~x~o~

Who would have guessed that in six months I would be doing the same thing? Adjusting to the scent of humans, playing with my shield, and looking forward to my next hunt.

After about a month we all moved to Alaska, including Jake, who was inseparable from Laurent side. There were rumors starting to form at the hospital and high school, mostly things that only Edward would know because of his mind-reading. People thought it was strange that Charlie suddenly stopped looking for me even thought I didn't return to school. The day that Edward heard someone thinking about calling the new stations was the day we packed and left. We couldn't chance any publicity or a human coming to the house.

My dad came to say goodbye, he stood inside the house and I stood outside like we had before. Edward stood inside with him and explained the situation. I guess it was the perils of our world. It wasn't something that my dad was prepared for. Laurent stood outside with me gripping my shoulders, I vowed to Charlie that the next time I would see him I would hug him. He told me he was looking forward to it. Of course I was working on my tolerance of humans but knowing that there wouldn't be way of seeing my dad again until I could control myself was a major motivation.

Irina left Denali and actually went to live with the Volturi! She was helping gather humans with Heidi. Laurent was relieved that he wouldn't have to run into her.

Upon arrival it was confirmed by Eleazar that I did, in fact, have a talent. Of course everyone got a good laugh that my talent was the antidote to Edward's. I just had to figure out how to use it.

So the months were spent hunting, playing, and adjusting. Alice would have a box of clothes delivered from the Goodwill for me to smell since the clothes were worn. Around the four month mark, when the UPS man came, I was able to stay in the house. Around the five month mark I sat on the stairs and actually saw the man. Alice asked him if he wanted a drink that day. I worried as he stood in the doorway, I didn't dare move from my spot. I knew Alice wouldn't have risked it if she saw that things might end badly. The man left with his life intact for another day.

Tanya took me under her wing when she heard about Edward's abstinence decree. My heart soared the day Edward told me that my body tested his self control more than my human scent. By now, I knew how much control that took. He told me I could set a wedding date when I could get my box of clothes from the UPS man myself. So each week I would inch closer to the door as the man was there. Tanya would flirt shameless with him so that he would stay longer and longer, and in time it got better.

Today it had been six months since we'd been living in Denali and I answered the door when I heard the heart rhythm that was the UPS man. Of course, Laurent stood with me as stood closer to any live human than I had since being turned into a vampire. I took the box with confidence while Laurent signed for it. I handed the box to Jacob who was sitting in the living room and went back to the door, just to test myself.

"I've never seen you in here before..." he trailed off waiting for me to fill in my name.

"Bella." I didn't even care that he was flirting with me, he probably thought I'd offer him what Tanya had offered him. I was just excited to be speaking with a human. "You've brought me enough clothes, though."

"What are you doing with them all?" He asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know..." Yes, I had hung out with Tanya a lot.

"Saving your life," Laurent muttered too quietly for the man to hear.

"Well, I'll be on my way now. See you soon, Bella," he said with a wink.

As soon as the man left, I was ecstatic. The first thing I did was called Alice and told her to get started on that wedding.

She was hunting with Edward, so he heard the news as well.

"Nothing major," I instructed. There was no sense in trying to keep talking to her over her squealing, so I hung up.

Next, I called my dad and told him I was having our wedding in month. We chatted for a bit, as a human we never talked much but as a vampire, my dad was increasingly curious about my life.

I remembered the day that I told him that he could talk to Billy about it all. He wanted to know why Jake was at the house and how I could be around Jake but not him. I told him that maybe he should talk to Billy about it. Billy was only too proud to tell another ear (that was allowed to know) about the tribe's great magic and how his son was filling the great prophesies that the tribal council had passed down for many, many years. The next day my dad called back and I don't think he said anything the entire time, he was speechless. I had told him not to worry, we could all hold our own here.

Our conversation about the wedding wrapped up with Charlie telling me he'd be there, he wouldn't miss it for the world.

Laurent and I went on a celebratory hunt. Actually I did all my hunting with Laurent nowadays. I found hunting to be a sensual experience as did Edward and after an 'almost-occasion,' he said that from then on he would be hunting with Alice and I would be hunting with Laurent until we were married. He assured me that it would make our wedding night all the better. He said he didn't want our first time to be up against a tree. I was about to point out Laurent and Jacob, only to be met with raised eyebrows that said don't go there. Jacob was a horny teenager and Laurent was ridiculously attracted to him, and of course, he loved him beyond words, too. Laurent and Jacob had no reservations whatsoever, but just a good friend wouldn't, Laurent never rubbed it in my face.

I caught a whiff of bear that was only a mile or two away and took off after it. Laurent ran after me, he still looked out for humans when I let myself go like this. As I was approaching the bear I kept seeing something shimmering in my periphery. With each inhale, the shimmer became more prominent that I could almost see it. At my most primal I could see my shield, I just knew that's what it was. I leapt at the bear and wrapped my legs around his front paws to immobilize them. I drank from the throbbing artery in his neck. As the bear weakened, he collapsed bringing me down with him but I kept drinking. It was still a religious experience, I still couldn't imagine anything better than warm blood running down my throat coating it and soothing it.

I had not yet released the bear from my mouth when I opened my eyes searching for my shield again. As I was so filled with blood, the shimmering was even easier to see although it was still in my periphery. How had I not noticed it before now? Without moving, I tried to move it using all the techniques that Eleazar told me about. I saw it ripple. I couldn't believe I could actually see it, I mean, I trusted that it was there but I never made any headway with it until now.

Laurent flopped down next to me as I seemingly stared off into space.

"Silly girl, what are you doing to that bear?" I had completely forgotten that I still had the bear sprawled on top of me with his neck still clenched in my teeth.

"I think I found my shield, I can see it right now." I was afraid to move my eyes and lose it.

"Really? What does it look like?" He asked, astounded.

"It's pretty. I kind of reminds me of our skin in the sunlight."

"Can you move it now? Because, I don't know why, but I have this thing where I really want to sneak up on Edward."

"Why would you want to do that?" I asked with a laugh.

"Tell me, when's then last time someone successfully snuck up on Edward? It will be fun. I never did get a chance to properly get him back for not telling me about the imprinting thing."

Edward had been messing with my delicate hormones for months now. I briefly wondered if

I had hormones now and made a mental note to ask Carlisle. _Yes, _I thought playfully, _Edward has something coming to him._

"I'll tell you what, I'll work on it."

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A/N: It might be a bit longer than usual when I update again, I have big plans for the next few chapters and I want them to be perfect and I wont accept anything less than that : ) (Plus, I have finals and I'm studying to take my LXMO exam!)

Also, Part two of Vendetta is now up! Edward and Alice tell us about their night

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	20. Dangerous

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 20: Bella- Dangerous

My views on marriage changed with immortality. Now, my views of a wedding haven't, I still dreamed of something simple. I wondered what my mother would say. I felt a pang in my chest as the guilt I felt that she still thought I was missing rang through me again. It was still dangerous for Charlie to be in my life, but that bell couldn't be un-rung. He would be arriving in a few days and I was nervous but excited to see him. He talked on the phone a lot but I still wanted to see him. The way we had to leave was heartbreaking, and I don't really think he understood. I hoped he didn't think I was vacationing up here! The UPS man still came everyday and it got more and more comfortable. Well, that's the wrong word, it got more and more tolerable. It still hurt like Hell, literally, I'd imagine.

I told Alice, I insisted, nothing major. If it couldn't be done in less than a month it was unnecessary. I daydreamed of the perfect wedding. All I needed was just Edward and me, and Emmett to officiate. Those were my bare needs, but I wanted my family there, too. But that's all, just people. I didn't need golden arches, flowers, seating arrangements, or fancy dresses. In fact, I'm not really sure why I gave Alice a whole month... There was one thing I wished for and no one, not even Alice, could get for me; I wanted my mother to be able to be here. One day... oh, hell, I don't know. Did Edward get to say goodbye to his cousin that survived the flu epidemic? No. I didn't get to bend the rules for my benefit, people would only end up dead.

"What's got you deep in thought?" Laurent asked as he flopped down on the couch next to me. I still refrained from doing things like flopping, jumping, or sudden movements, especially in the house.

"Just thinking about getting married, and my mom." I leaned my head on his shoulder.

Jacob used to get jealous, but Laurent always enjoyed showing him how much he loved only him. I was funny to watch how Laurent, who was almost a head shorter then Jacob, wrapped Jacob his finger justlikethat. If anyone got to be jealous, it was me, my inner five-year-old said he was my friend first. I sighed.

"I still miss my mom, I can't believe I can't remember her name," he confessed. I loved it when he told me stories of his mom and growing up.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm really glad I told you about my life before you turned me. Do you want to get married?"

Surprisingly, he shook his head. "Declaring my love to the world is not necessary. Only Jacob needs to know." I wished Edward and Alice would let me get away with something so simple.

~o~x~o~x~o~

My dad arrived today. He looked around the house at all the vampires and looked completely daunted. All my preparations really paid off. Having him here really wasn't any worse than receiving a fresh box of clothes. The only difference was the heartbeat and it didn't egg me on like it would before. Gingerly, I hugged him. On top of everything I was scared that I would squash him.

"Hey, your eyes look better!" He said as he returned the hug.

"I missed you!" His skin felt as delicate as philo dough. Edward came over and shook his hand and introduced him to everyone present.

"Charlie this is about half of our family in Alaska. Over there is Carmen," he gestured to her standing in the open kitchen preparing food with Esme, "and this is Eleazar," he gestured to the man that was making his way over to shake Charlie's hand as well.

"It's nice to meet Bella's human father. It's so rare in our world for parents to still be living and still have contact. Most of us are so old, our human families have been dead for hundreds of years. Thousands, in Tanya and Kate's case. Where are they, anyways?" Eleazar asked as he ignored Charlie's eyes as they bugged out.

"Tanya, Kate and Alice went shopping." I chimed in, "Wedding details, they said. They should be back soon."

Edward whispered in my ear that Charlie wanted to talk to me privately. It wasn't something I could really give him, but I could make it look that way.

"I'll show you to your room." Everyone stay downstairs to give us some 'privacy'.

I showed him to a room that Esme had decorated with rich outdoor themes and colors. It was luxurious, however underused. Charlie would be the first to sleep in the cherry frame bed. I took his suitcases and situated them on the luggage rack. I remembered the first time I saw one, I tried to figure out what it was before reluctantly asking Edward. He explained that you set your luggage on it instead of taking up the bed. It still amazed me what the rich did with their money when they were bored. Of course, Edward reminded me that his money was _our _money now. Technically, I couldn't complain about the eccentricities of the rich anymore.

I went and sat in the window seat while my dad unpacked. The sun shone weakly through the windows making the skin on my shoulders shimmer slightly.

"What's on your mind, Dad?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

He sighed and stuffed another article of clothing into the open drawer, "It's just been so hard since you left. I was worried to death that something bad happened to you. I'm the chief of police, damn it! I should be able to stop these things from happening." He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Part of me is glad that you left that note, I would have gone crazy thinking that you were abducted in your sleep. Then I find out about all this crazy vampire and werewolf business, Bells, my head's spinning! And then I go back to work after I find you, and people are looking at me like I'm crazy 'cause I look happy, but I can't tell them why. Then they want to know why I stopped looking for you when I couldn't tell them that I found you. Then I couldn't even see you really, and then you moved here. Bella, it's all too much. I don't know how to deal with it, and it's not like I can talk to anyone about it!"

It was the most I've ever heard him say in one sitting, "What about Billy?"

"I just didn't want to burden him, you know?"

"No, I don't know, Dad. That's kind of stupid. Not to be corny, but that's what friends are for."

"The worst part is when Renee called and filleted me from here to the ends of the Earth for not caring enough to keep looking for you. She thinks I don't care, that I just let you go! What was I going to tell her? The truth? It's all so crazy." He sat on the edge of the bed and cradled his head on his hands. Was he crying? Venom prickled at my own eyes and I walked over and sat by him.

"I'm so sorry that my leaving did all of this." I was torn, I could never entirely regret my decisions, but seeing my father hurt like this crushed my heart again. "If I could do anything to make it better, I would."

I heard from downstairs the return of Alice, Kate and Tanya. I sat with my dad a few minutes, we were never good at expressing ourselves, especially to one another. I let my presence sooth him for a few more minutes before suggesting that we go back downstairs to meet the rest of the family.

"Dad, this is Kate, and this is Tanya. Tanya, Kate this is my dad, Charlie." I watched a familiar spark light up Tanya's eyes. Charlie was her favorite kind of person, a human male.

"Pleased to meet you, Charlie," Tanya purred in the thickest Russian accent I've ever heard from her. I swear I was fine until Charlie's heart started race.

Edward busted out in a loud guffaw across the room.

Charlie leaned in and whispered fruitlessly in ear, "She doesn't look like she's thousands of years old." His mental images of his expectations must been what spurred Edward to lose his poker face.

Similarly, I leaned in to whisper back, "There's no point in whispering, everyone in the room can hear you." He blushed a deep scarlet blush that was reminiscent of my own human blush.

"Relax Charlie," Tanya cooed as she laid it on him thick, "don't think of it as age, think of it as experience," and she winked.

"Careful Dad, that's a dangerous woman." I warned playfully before I had to turn away as my father was unknowingly trapped in seduction by the original succubus.

I walked over to Edward and crawled into his lap and buried my nose in his chest. He wrapped his arm around and enveloped me in warmth.

"At least you're not hearing their thoughts."

"_Their_ thoughts?"

"Oh yeah, both of them. You know it's been a really time since-"

I cut him off by stuffing my fingers in my ears. I don't care how natural it is, or how long it's been, he was my father and it was not something I wanted to hear about.

"Can we please just go for a run?" I begged.

He patted my leg and we got up together and headed for the door. We called out our good-byes as we left.

We ran to a stream that had frozen over. It was my favorite place to come with Edward. We would sit on top of the ice and watch as the fish scurried underneath us. It was like sitting on top of an aquarium.

"So what do you want to do about your birthday?" He asked.

"Really? Nothing, I just want to be with my family. I want everybody together just like they are right now."

I leaned over to kiss him, slowly I tried to deepen it and surprisingly he let me. I moved to straddle him just as I was starting to feel a frenzy start, but he pushed me away.

"Ugh! I swear you do that for ascetics!" I whined.

"Shhh, somebody's coming." Who could be coming that he wouldn't want to hear us?

"Oh, shit!" He swore, a seldom occurrence, "We have to go!"

Before I could process his words, he grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder and was running faster than I could have. When we were about a mile from the house he put me down so that we could run the rest of the way together.

"Laurent, Tanya, I need to speak with you both.. outside," Edward said somberly yet hastily.

I listened from inside as he whispered so that Charlie and Jacob wouldn't hear. It made me sick to hear what he told them.

The decision that I made when I left with Laurent put in motion so much pain for everyone. The consequences of my actions were far reaching, and the one thing that was for sure was that it was all my fault. I sat there and spiraled back down to a place I thought I'd left long ago, only this time Laurent wouldn't be there to pull me out.

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	21. Flight or Fight

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

A/N: Just a heads up, I did something this chapter I've never done before, I switched voices mid-chapter. It's just a small bit at the end, but it was necessary.

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Chapter 21: Laurent- Flight or Fight

I was snuggled up to my boy on the couch when Edward busted in the house nearly knocking the hinges off the frame. Frantically he looked around the house, at first I thought he was looking for Bella, for some reason, but she came in behind him and her eyes were just as questioning as my own.

"Laurent, Tanya," he called her name a little louder since she wasn't in the room. She must have been who he was searching for. "I need to speak with you both... outside," Edward said somberly yet hastily.

_Huh,_ I thought, that's an odd pairing, _what do we have in common?_

"Actually Laurent, a few things." Edward answered my unspoken question as he walked out the door and waited for Tanya and me to follow. Tanya ran down the stairs to join us.

Getting right to the point, Edward said, "There is a small Volturi Guard coming, apparently they heard about the upcoming wedding and Aro sent them, I couldn't tell why just yet. The problem is that it's Demetri and Irina. Irina isn't too happy about the thought of seeing you, and she doesn't know about Jacob."

"Not to be callous, but what does this have to do with me?" Tanya asked.

"I need you to run with Charlie, this might get ugly and I don't want any humans around for the Volturi to use against us. That's includes Jacob, Laurent, we definitely don't want the Volturi to be aware of any Vampire-Werewolf alliance. It's not safe. I wish I could explain more, but you guys need to go _now_. The guard is less than a mile and a half out. We can't take a chance that Demetri will be able to track Charlie or Jacob."

Tanya and I ran in the house. Jacob and I wouldn't need anything, so I hugged Bella and promised that I'd be back soon. I've seen that look in her eyes before, that look of abandonment. It made me feel sick that it was me doing it. Really, I was running to save my boy, but I couldn't distinguish between him and myself anymore, so it like I was leaving my family behind in a crisis and selfishly running to save myself. I waited to see that Tanya and Charlie were coming down the stairs so I would know that they got out safely and then we took off.

We ran as fast as possible out of Denali and southward towards the states. I still hadn't told Jacob why we were running but I begged him to trust me.

Jacob ran as a wolf. It amazed me that he could keep up with me, and actually he could outrun me. It was a learning and humbling experience. I wondered what he was thinking, he saw Bella when we left, he knew Tanya and Charlie were leaving, too. Could he have pieced it together? Of course he could, he was the rightful leader of his tribe and quick thinking and strategy came to him easily. He wouldn't be happy at all when I told him, that much I was sure of. So the goal for now was to run as far south as Jacob would allow before he would demand answers.

Somewhere in the southern Yukon Territory, maybe northern British Columbia, Jacob slowed.

Trying to divert Jacob queries, as soon as Jacob phased I asked him if he were tired or hungry. Jacob only shook his head 'no' and kept walking beside me. I continued to make idle small talk, but as a general rule, it wasn't something we normally did.

Finally I asked, "Aren't you going to ask me why we left?"

He stared at me for a moment and let out a long sigh, "I was kinda hoping you would just tell me. Whatever it is, you can tell me, you don't need to shelter me." Disappointment was evident in his voice and I could feel his disappointment in my judgment right to my core.

"Well," he hedged.

After a few hems and haws, I explained, "The Volturi sent a guard when word of Bella and Edward's marriage got out. While they were out, Edward over heard them as they were approaching. They sent a tracker and Irina. I can't have the tracker being able to follow you, so we ran. I didn't want Irina seeing you either, I don't want her trying to go after you. Tanya took Charlie, too."

"Wait, we ran because of your ex-girlfriend? You know as well as I do that I can hold my own when it comes to vampires. We're going back," he said decisively and began to head back.

I grabbed his arm. "No, we're not," I countered. "It's not just that, the Volturi don't know about your wolf pack and your alliance with the Cullens, I'm trying to protect you, can't you see that?"

"I can protect us by going back and taking care of those Volturi!" I knew exactly how he meant it.

"That will just make more of them come, it will be a never-ending battle. This is the best thing to do right now." I still had a hold of his arm and I pulled him closer. Looking up into his eyes I begged, "Please, just come with me."

He wrapped his arms around my shoulder and leaned into me. I could feel him smelling my hair. "Why do you have to pull the 'imprint card' on me?"

"I did not!" I said defensively as I pulled back a little.

"Hold me, Jacob, I'm scared." He mocked.

"I did not say that!" I said indignantly and then added, "And you're not going to use reverse psychology on me to make me go back."

"So, where are we going?" he asked as he gave in.

"I'm not sure, but can we maybe go back to La Push? Don't you want to see your dad?"

I wasn't ever allowed on the reservation, but at the time my eyes were still red, and although Jacob trusted me, the rest of the pack did not. I met his father, but only once when he came to visit. He smelled more like human and wasn't able to stay long because of Bella.

"Do you think we'll have to stay off the reservation still?" I asked as he continued to think. I felt almost child-like as I, in a way, asked permission. The dynamic of our relationship was always ever-changing, versatile if you will. We weren't like Edward and Bella in that what Edward said went, and Bella followed suit. In our relationship, sometimes I took that upper hand and sometimes I was the one to follow suit. Seldomly, like earlier for instance, we would both try to take charge. Usually when that happened I would win, shamefully I'd admit, via the 'imprint card' as Jacob called it.

"I'll talk to Sam about it. If not, we can stay in the Cullen's house, you know we could use some privacy."

"Actually, I was hoping that we could stay there anyways, I just wanted know if we could visit. That's all." I smiled impishly.

"Okay."

"Did you want to stay here for a few hours and hunt with me?" I asked as a way to test the waters. I hated the tension, I just wanted us to be okay. After a few minutes of him not answering, I began to walk again. I wondered what had him so deep in thought.

Suddenly he snagged his finger in my belt loop to stop me, "Wait, stop making that face." I scowled and turned to face him.

"No, not that face," he corrected, "the one where you're all unsure and stuff."

"You couldn't even see my face," I accused, even though I knew he was right.

"No, but I know you're doing it, I can hear it in your voice. Of course I'll hunt with you. I guess I just didn't realize that you would want to get to know my family and friends."

It was his turn to feel unsure, and I look at him incredulously, "Of course, I do. Why wouldn't I? Do you have any idea how much I love you? Everything about you?"

"Everything?" he asked me skeptically.

"Everything," I confirmed with a kiss, "Even when you do boring things like sleep." Admittedly, he wasn't as interesting as Bella used to be in her sleep, but he was just as beautiful and he was mine. As I cupped his face in my hands, the possessive emotion poured into our continued kiss. I let my hand slide down his neck, feeling his vital pulse, then to his chest and on down to the waist of his pants.

"Aren't you supposed to be hunting?" He asked breathlessly, "I don't want you to devour me." Hearing the double meaning of his words made it all the harder to pull away, but I really did need to hunt.

"Okay, we'll do the quickest hunt in the history of the world, but we can pick up where we left off." I kissed him one last time. I backed up a little as his removed his shorts and phased. He definitely wanted me, too.

I broke myself out of my stupor and began my hunt with Jacob following on my heels.

~o~x~o~x~o~

R~W~M

~o~x~o~x~o~

Tanya

If there was one thing I was good at it was _entertaining_ humans. But Bella's actual father? He was different, all I can say is yum! That mustache and all that heat, and he had this way of saying the funniest things without trying or realizing that he was funny. He had that older man thing going for him and, oh, that uniform! I would lick the man, anywhere and everywhere, thank you very much. I've known the man all of, what, two hours? I've already changed my panties once in that time frame.

So I was sitting in his guest room as he continued to unpack contemplated the ways to have my way with him. He probably had morals, he would take some persuading to be with a 'younger' woman such as myself, after all, I was technically his daughter's age.

The perfect opportunity landed in my lap when Debby Downer, AKA Edward, tells me I get to run away with this fine human specimen. Sure, I'd have to tell him about the Volturi and all that, but the way I see it: it's building the trust. That's just one step closer to horizontal land. I smiled to myself.

Now, to be clear, I was not just some lust ridden kitten. I did feel wrong for leaving my own coven to deal with the potential ire of the Volturi, _that _I did not take lightly. And yes, I did want to see my sister, but she left to be with the Volturi, of all the places to go! I wasn't too entirely worried, she'd come back in a few hundred years and everything would be fine.

I reach over and grabbed Charlie's hand, we managed to get into one of the cars before the guard arrived. He took my hand easily, he seemed to be in need of support. A sad man, eh? I could work with that.

"What's on your mind?" I prompted.

"This year has been so much for me to handle, almost too much. I can't wait until it's all over..."

He continued to tell me everything that I overheard him telling Bella earlier. I knew he was talking about this year and the craziness of everything that's changed in his life, but I can't help but think about his human life, it will be over soon, too. What was another forty or fifty years? I feel a small twinge in my stomach and it wasn't just wanton lust. I push it aside and continue to assault him with my seduction, it's what I knew well, and those were emotions and actions that I could deal with.

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A/N: Be careful what you lick, you'll get Strep.-Cindy & Tanya

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	22. Unexpected

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

A/N: Keep in mind that the story line changed when Bella went with Laurent, so Bella never went to Volterra, and never met the Volturi. Neither did Edward, he only knows what Carlisle has told him and Bella doesn't know much more than what Edward's told her and her fear is not of the Volturi necessarily, but for her father and Jacob.

This chapter covers material from chapters 19, 20, and part of 21 from Edward's perspective, so it's kind of long. I was ready to move forward but Edward told me I wasn't getting it right and demanded to speak. That's okay, I'll crawl inside Edward's mind any day : ) Actually, it was Chewie4370 who told me I wasn't getting it right as she was pre-reading the original chapter 22 that was told from Bella's perspective.

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Chapter 22: Edward- Unexpected

I knew they'd be trouble the moment they were introduced, I'm talking about Bella and Tanya. As we drove to Denali after we left Forks, Laurent and I told her and Jacob all about the Denali coven and their _habits_ concerning men. Of course, I never saw Bella's silent contemplation as we continued our travels. As I said, they were trouble.

The first thing Bella said to Tanya after being introduce, she leaned over and whispered in her ear, I barely heard her say, "I'm going to need your help." Tanya peeked at me quickly and Bella gave a barely perceptible nod. I watch in horror as they ran away to "hunt".

Hours later, I was sitting on the love seat reading a book when Bella returned but Tanya didn't. Alice was humming something ridiculous to block her thoughts from me and Bella came and gave me a quick kiss before I watched as she snuggle up to Laurent on the couch. It wasn't anything that they wouldn't normally do, but something about it felt different and I could feel the jealousy bubble up in my stomach. I wondered if she was doing it intentionally. I pretended to read but kept my mind focused on Alice and on Laurent thoughts. One of them had to crack, something was definitely going on...

Alice got a quick vision of something before she reined in it and blocked me out again. All I could see was Tanya coming home and getting something out of the trunk of her car.

Alice jumped up and suggested that we go hunting together. She begged and begged me to go with her. I kept refusing, if something was going on, I wanted to be here to see it.

_I'll tell you what's going on... _She promised

I decided to take my chances, Alice couldn't hide her thoughts from me all night. We ran to a hunting spot that we had found a few decades ago before Alice told me that she wasn't going to tell me a thing, only that it was going to be good and then she just laughed hysterically. If she wasn't going to tell me anything, I was going back. I didn't really need to hunt right now.

I made my way back to the house and actually came up on the house sooner than I expected because I was listening for the thoughts. No one was home. As I got closer I heard music being softly played and... fire? I entered the house and followed the sound of the music all the way to my room. I looked around the room, it looked as if Tanya had turned the room into her own seduction playground.

There were candles flickering, massage oils laid out, and scattered flower petals. I started to leave, Tanya would probably be returning with someone soon. As I turned, I saw Bella leaning against the closet door watching me with amusement. I think I was hard from the very second I saw her in my periphery. She had this light blue lace demi-cup baby doll top with a matching thong. Her hair spilled down her shoulders begging to be tucked behind her ears. I couldn't reconcile the temptress in front of me with the Bella that I always knew.

She slowly stalked towards with a mischievous look in her eyes and I'd be damned if I could look away. She began to visually explore my body and as soon as she landed below my waist, her smile grew. I was frozen as she reached out to me and ran her hands up my abs and placed them on my chest. She inched closer and slipped one hand behind my neck and pulled my face down to hers but she didn't kiss me. She continued to my ear where she sucked the lobe in between her teeth and then trailed her tongue up the outer shell before moaning seductively in my ear.

I had her on the bed before I even knew what was happening. Before I could retain my composure, my tongue was exploring her mouth while my hands explored her body. I was drunk on her scent and she wrapped her legs around me leaving just enough space for her to begin to undo my pants. Hearing the zipper's noise brought me back to my senses.

"Bella," I groaned, "we can't do this. I told you I want to wait until you're my wife." I loosened myself from her grip and laid out beside her. I found myself going from being completely aroused to upset that she actually did all this to go against my wishes. I didn't get a chance to stay upset for long because she started crying. I couldn't stand to see her cry so I tried to comfort her. She wouldn't talk to me, she just rolled off the bed and got dressed and ran from the house. There was no doubt in my mind that she would go find Laurent, where ever he was, and confide in him instead. I was okay with.

That was the first time she seriously tried to seduce me.

After that, all attempts were much more subtle. "Edward, can you get my this or that," she'd call from the shower. I made the mistake the first time of peeking in as I handed it to her. The bubbles as they ran down her wet body hypnotized me, she asked me if I wanted to join her. I couldn't begin to tell you how close I was to almost taking her up on the offer. After that, I was more careful not to peek in anymore but it didn't stop her from requesting things. I swear she'd put her shampoo bottle on the counter before she got in just so that I would have to come in and help her get it. One time she needed a towel and when I returned with the towel she had the shower curtain wide open. She was killing me.

"I swear your body is more tempting to me now than your blood ever was," I'd told her.

The last straw came a few months ago when we were hunting, and really this time was really as much my fault, more than it was hers. I had just finished draining an elk and I was watching as Bella delicately wrapped her limbs around the elk she was drinking from. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind, I wanted her legs wrapped around _me_. As soon as she pushed the animal off her I was on top of her kissing her and pulling at the seams of her clothing, of course she wasn't doing anything to stop me and it didn't help that both of us were high on fresh blood. I was tearing at my own clothes next and I couldn't think straight, why was it that we weren't supposed to be doing this? I couldn't remember. Only when I looked down at her shredded white shirt did I begin to regain awareness, I remembered that I would be upset with myself if I didn't wait.

I kissed her one last time before pulling away, "I promise you Bella, when we do this on our wedding night it will be amazing but I don't want our first time to be out here in the middle of the forest or up against a tree," She tried to interrupt me but I pressed on, "I want it to be more special than that."

She pouted, I suppose it's something I will never understand about the time the Bella grew up in. I decided right then that we shouldn't hunt together until we were married.

"I promise that as soon as you can handle to be around humans, specifically Charlie, so that he can walk you down the aisle, we can get married."

After that, Bella focused more of her attention on the boxes that arrived from the Goodwill. I wont say that she didn't try any more seduction attempt, but they were a little more sporadic now.

One day about six months after we moved here, Alice and I were hunting when she got the phone call from Bella saying that she got the box from the UPS man and to begin the wedding plans. As soon as Alice got off the phone she got in a vision. It our wedding, there were white chairs on a beach, it looked to be Isle Esme. The Denalis and Jacob sat on one side and the Cullens sat on the other. I was waiting at the end of the makeshift aisle with Emmett to officiate and Bella was being walked down the aisle by Laurent. Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

That was when I first knew that Charlie would most likely die before we ever got a chance to be married. The vision was still hazy, but it was a good possibility that it was what would happen.

When Charlie arrived a few weeks later, I struggled to keep my composure and not alert Bella to the fact that something may not be right. Tanya took a liking to Charlie and I wouldn't feel like a gentleman if I repeated some of the thoughts in her head. It wasn't long before Charlie's thoughts weren't the most gentlemanly either.

"At least you're not hearing their thoughts." I told her.

"_Their_ thoughts?"

"Oh yeah, both of them. You know it's been a really time since he's been with anyone." I watched as she crammed her fingers in her ears and hummed to drown out my words.

"Can we please just go for a run?" she begged.

I gladly jumped at the idea of going for a run when Bella suggested, I'd be lying if I said I didn't provoke her by mentioning some of his thoughts. No child wants to hear that of their own parents.

However, If I had known how things were going to go after this, I wouldn't have suggested her leaving her father. I would have sat on that couch and took it, just like I always do. As we found our way to the frozen lake I was only thinking finding a moment alone with Bella. It had been a while since she's tried to do anything to seduce me, maybe it was the promise of the upcoming wedding. So when she started kissing me, I wanted, in a way, to reward her for being good and I let the kiss go on longer than I normally would have and I let myself get distracted.

_It been a while since I've been home._

It only took me a fraction of a second to decipher the voices, it was Irina and some member of the Volturi guard. I pushed at Bella as she moved closer to me, I couldn't worry about her feelings right now.

"Ugh! I swear you do that for ascetics!" She whined, but I filed the thought away for later consideration.

"Shhh, somebody's coming." I needed to hear a little more just to be sure.

_It's so secluded here, where am I supposed to find a human? That's okay, Bella's father will suffice. He's going to die anyways. _

"Oh, shit! We have to go!" My body was in motion almost before my mind was and I grabbed Bella and ran, not for our lives, but for the sake of her fathers. This was the catalyst that I had been dreading.

We arrived at the house in no time, but I still feared that Irina and Demetri (I heard her think his name) had gotten there before us. I looked around for Charlie and I saw him through Tanya's thoughts sitting on the guest bed.

I called for her and Laurent so that I could speak with them outside. I could see Bella worrying and it killed me that she would find out like this. I sat her on the couch and followed Laurent out and waited for Tanya to arrive, all the while listening as the guard's thoughts got closer and closer to the house.

_Huh, _Laurent thought, _that's an odd pairing, what do we have in common?_

"Actually Laurent, a few things," I said, more as something to fill the time with instead of worrying.

When Tanya stepped out onto the porch I began speaking quickly, "There is a small Volturi Guard coming, apparently they heard about the upcoming wedding and Aro sent them, I couldn't tell why just yet. The problem is that it's Demetri and Irina. Irina isn't too happy about the thought of seeing you, and she doesn't know about Jacob."

"Not to be callous, but what does this have to do with me?" Tanya asked.

"I need you to run with Charlie, this might get ugly and I don't want any humans around for the Volturi to use against us. That's includes Jacob, Laurent. We definitely don't want the Volturi to be aware of any Vampire-Werewolf alliance. It's not safe. I wish I could explain more, but you guys need to go _now_. The guard is less than a mile and a half out. We can't take a chance that Demetri will be able to track Charlie or Jacob."

Tanya's thoughts took me by surprise, _Nobody's going to kill my human. My Charlie._

I watched as the four that were leaving packed a small amount of things and left. It was curious to see how disappointed that Laurent was in himself when he left Bella there on the couch broken. He really was a good guy.

No sooner had Laurent and Tanya left with Jacob and Charlie, I had the house was buzzing with activity. Things were being removed and put in the garage, food was taken out of the fridge, and couches were being moved back to where they sat when Irina lived here. The couch where Jacob and Laurent often sat was removed completely.

I crouched down in front of where Bella sat on the couch and whispered almost too low for anyone to hear. "Come on, love, you've got to perk up. Just for now." The Guard was too close for comfort

Knock, knock, knock.

Glances were thrown around the room, _who should answer? _The room occupants held their breaths as Carlisle and Eleazar stood and went to the door. We met strength with our own quiet strength. Part of me thought it was odd seeing a former resident of this house knocking at the door.

"Hello, Demetri, Irina," Eleazar said. "What can we do for you?"

"We come of Aro's behalf to attend Edward and Isabella's wedding," Demetri answered.

"Please come in, we'll show you to a room." The wedding wasn't for another couple of days, so the guard would be here until then.

They were in the room settling in for a long time, it was odd, they didn't make any noise at all other than their thoughts. It put everyone downstairs on edge, we were afraid to talk. Anything we said could be misconstrued. I truly felt like a criminal, there were rules and I had disobeyed them, it was me that confirmed to Charlie what we were. Now a guard was here to rectify the situation. Later in the day Demetri and Irina came down and sat with us, no one knew what to say. The silence made me feel all the more guilty but I wouldn't let it show on my face.

Finally, Kate spoke, "Irina, I can't believe you've returned to drinking from humans."

Irina shifted in her spot on the sofa. "When in Rome," she replied. In the corner of my eye I could see that Bella was very uncomfortable.

It was one of the main reasons that Carlisle left Volterra, because of their near forced lifestyle.

"And it's only natural," Demetri added. His gaze fell on my Bella for entirely too long, "Aro would love to meet you." I couldn't help the growl that bubbled in my chest, I tried with all my might to keep in inaudible.

Although I was monitoring all the thoughts in the room, Alice's vision caught my attention. Apparently Irina had a few things she wanted to say to Bella and no matter how Alice tried to deflect or distract her, Irina always found a way in Alice's visions to speak her mind to Bella. I let out a sharp puff of air as Alice's settled in next to Bella on the couch. _For support, _she said, and I nodded.

"That was quite a stunt you pulled when you ran away," her tone was like fire as she glared at Bella. I fought everything in me that told me to try to shield Bella from this, I knew it wouldn't help in the long run. "Your father was all over the news stations drawing attention to Forks and the Cullens. Naturally, when Forks was mentioned, a member of the guard was assigned to keep up with the case." _the most boring assignment, if you ask me,_ she added mentally, "We almost sent a guard then to silence him. You should know that your father's actions have been closely watched." I could feel Bella shaking and I just about had enough of her tirade myself. "All his trips to the Cullen's while you still lived in Forks, and even his most recent trip here to Denali. Do you want to expose my sisters, too?"

"I... I... " Bella didn't know how to respond to the accusations.

"I noticed he's not here... hmmm. Do you really think you can hide him for long?" She mused.

"Charlie is away with Tanya," I answered truthfully enough.

"She always had a thing for men with facial hair," _and you, of course. _"By the way, where is your partner in _crime, _Bella?" She asked as she sneered her name. _Why does Edward keep him around? Why would he protect Laurent? I don't understand. I know it's progressive, but maybe they're polyamorous. Edward doesn't seem like the type, but this slut has conned our kind into worse predicaments._

Her spoken tirade was unbearable, but her inner thoughts were downright offensive. Strangely enough, it was not Irina's thoughts that were the most unsettling, It was Demetri's. I reached for Bella's hand, "Come with me, I have some things to take care of before the wedding." The wedding that, most likely, would not be anytime soon.

While we ran, Bella asked me if Irina and Demetri were mated now. I told her no and that it seemed to me that Irina was still pining over Laurent.

We didn't stop until we were deep into the forest. The trees were thick here, some were no more than shoulder width apart. We slowed to accommodate the spacing of the trees until I couldn't run openly any further and I stopped and slumped down against a tree. My fist found its way to my hair.

"This is why I didn't want this!" I screamed. "I never had a choice, but you did. I left and it didn't even stop you from getting hurt, now Charlie's going to get killed-"

"WHAT!" She cut me off, I sometimes forget that not everyone hears everything that I hear. So I explained

"Aro knows, he sent Demetri to kill him. Demetri didn't even try to hide his thoughts. Irina is here for our wedding, and, of course, to give you a piece of her mind, but Demetri has no intentions of letting you father live long enough to walk you down the aisle."

"What do we do?" She asked in a small voice.

"We have to find Tanya and Charlie and tell him what has been decided, that way he has the option to make the choice..."

"What about Jake?" Her voice was pained and I stood and pulled her into a hug.

"Right now, we can't worry about him. The Volturi still isn't aware of him so we're going to try and keep it that way. Irina is thinking about finding Laurent while she's here, but we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there." For a moment before the storm, I held in my arms and breathed her scent. In that moment, I tried to just forget everything.

"Where are we going to find my dad?"

"Tanya should have her phone on her, I'll call her and tell her to wait for us where ever they are."

I pulled out my phone and began dialing Tanya's number. She answered the phone slightly out of breath but I wasn't about to ask. Quickly I told her everything I'd heard from Demetri. She told me that they headed Northwest and with that information I grabbed Bella's hand and began running. After only an hour of running, we caught up to Tanya's car pulled over in the tundra. Charlie sat in the front seat with a blanket wrapped around him and Tanya was leaning with her head on the steering wheel watching him. I couldn't get over the intensity of her thoughts. They got out of the car when we approached. Bella ran to her father and held onto him while Tanya and I held a half-silent conversation.

_Please don't take him away, I l-love him,_ she begged me with her eyes.

"If that's how you feel then you should keep running with him, but you should discuss some things... options with him." It made me feel sick to offer this life to him as a kind of escape to death.

_Is the Volturi's decision final, or is there anything I can do? I will if I have to but I don't want to change him, I like him warm._

I just shook my head, it was either death or life as a vampire. She let out an uncharacteristic cry.

I watched as Charlie moved away from Bella with the intention of going to comfort Tanya.

"There, there, don't cry, honey," he said as he squatted awkwardly beside her. She turned to cry into his lapel. _What could make such a beautiful girl cry? _He thought. He sank down against the car's bumper and pulled Tanya closer. I went and wrapped my arms around Bella, too.

"What's got you crying dear? Tell me. Remember I told you my problems." _All his problems! That's why I can't have him!_ Tanya cried even harder, if it was possible.

"Shhh." He looked to me, _What did he tell her? _He wanted to know why I made her cry, but he didn't know I could hear his thoughts. I shook my head again and waited for Tanya to come around, she would tell him.

Although she still cried, she managed to speak through her tears, "Charlie, the Volturi wont let you live and... and I... want you to...live. I want you to stay... with me. I... I..." _love you, _she finished in her head. She shook her head furiously, she didn't want to say it aloud, she still didn't want to admit her feeling with such finality.

"I don't know what to say," he stammered.

"Say that you'll stay, they wont kill you if you're a vampire. Please stay with me? Please?" Tanya begged.

Charlie cocked his head to the side as if he were assessing her but couldn't find the right words. His thoughts were as muffles as ever but I could make out things like 'immortality' and 'never-changing' and 'blood', but the thing that made me lose any hope was when he decided that this life was 'not natural'. He frowned and cleared his throat and looked over to Bella and me.

"Um, can you kids give us a minute?" Tanya let out a small breathy giggle through her tears and seemed a little relieved. She was expecting him to tell her yes, that he'd stay with her.

"Sure, we'll be back at the house, call us if you need anything." I tried to keep the lump out of my voice as I spoke. I grabbed Bella's hand and began walking away until we were out of hearing range my.

"This is all my fault," I said when we stopped walking, she looked at me like I had sprouted a third head. I was about to explain that it was my fault that I didn't stay away the first time I ran away after meeting. I was about to say that I was my fault because I was the one who told him we were vampires. If I hadn't left after her disastrous birthday party, maybe she would still be human. Maybe.

But before I got the chance, she looked at me with this fierce expression on her face and said, "I don't want to hear, I don't want to talk about it right now, just kiss me do not stop until I tell you to."

Kiss her? Right now? Although it was inappropriate, I did. I let myself get lost like I had earlier. I felt her tongue enter my mouth and her hands snake up the back of my shirt.

"Now," she begged.

"Bella..." I moaned into her mouth.

"I know..." she said then began to give me small kisses between words, "you want... to wait... but life is being... stupid... can't you just give me... one ounce of happiness?" She hopped up and wrapped her legs around my waist. "Marry me with your body."

All I could think was that every decision I had made regarding Bella was wrong. Part of me wanted to push her away, I knew where this would lead but I was so afraid to be one more thing that would hurt her. Then I remembered her accusation that I only denied her this simply for the practice of self-denial. So I let her keep kissing me and I kept kissing her back. It was easy to lose myself when the only thing I could feel and see and smell was her. She surrounded me. My hands began to roam her body in a frenzy. I pulled at her jeans until the inside seam ripped open. I reason I had for doing this was wrong, I wanted to prove her wrong, I wanted to make her happy one last time, and I just wanted to forget everything and lose myself in her embrace.

I would have, too, if my phone hadn't begun its shrill ring.

Irina's cold voice said, "If you don't get that human here within the hour, I'm going to look for him myself."

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A/N: So again, a big thank you to Chewie4370 for pre-reading this chapter for me and talking me down. Chewie4370 writes Moon Light Lovers and its sequel Love and War. Check 'em out. You can find her profile link all over my reviews page, she's one of those awesome people that reviews every chapter.

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM.


	23. Patricide

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 23: Bella- Patricide

I was shaking as I heard Irina's voice over the phone.

It just killed me that the same things that haunted my dad since the day I ran away were the same things that would seal his fate. His broken cries for me on the news, and his sudden silence were the things that would kill him in the end, if not by the hand of the Volturi then by insanity. Edward said it himself that it was my fault. If I hadn't chosen this, Charlie would be safe. Maybe in not so many words but I was acutely aware of the blame and guilt on my shoulders.

Edward began straightening his clothes and putting himself back together. I could only stare at him, was he just going to hand him over?

"What are you doing?" I shrieked. "He could choose to stay with Tanya, you said they like each other, right?"

He had this pained expression on his face, one that I'd one seen a few times before. Something like the face he wore in the days leading up to the day he left me in the woods. The face of anticipated loss. This was bad, this was really bad.

"Bella," he said my name in a tone that felt so wrong, the tone of resignation, "we need to go see your father and see what his final decision is."

I knew right then that he knew, of course he knew, "What do you know?" I was beyond the ability to control the volume of my voice.

"I really think that you should talk to Charlie, let him explain."

He took my hand and began leading me back to where Tanya had pulled over on the side of the road. I protested a few more times along the way but Edward kept his pace. Tanya and Charlie were where we left them. Charlie sat with his back to the car bumper but Tanya sat curled up in his lap still crying. Charlie looked... stoic?

I went and sat beside him so that Tanya was facing me, I could tell that she wanted to growl at me. I reached out to her hoping to convey that I wouldn't take Charlie away. She took my hand as she recognized an ally.

"He wont stay," she whispered to me. She confirmed what I thought Edward was trying to tell me.

"Now, honey, that's not what I said." I cocked my head at him, there was no way he could have heard her. I vaguely wondered if he would have some kind of talent.

"Why wont you... Why can't you just stay with us? They're going to kill you right now, you know that right?"

"I know. Tanya here told me everything and I don't want to die, I know it's not my time, but Bells, this... life, it's not natural. It's not for me, I'm an old man," Tanya silently scoffed, "and I just can't see myself living forever, life's just too monotonous for that." It felt like he was even more accepting of death after the rough year he's had.

"No, Charlie, it wouldn't be, I promise! I would make it good, please stay! Please?" Disparity coated Tanya's voice.

"Dad, Irina's coming to look for you." Ignoring my father for a minute, I turned to Tanya, "Tanya, why don't you just bite him? He's not thinking clearly!"

"I haven't tasted human blood in centuries, I just don't trust myself." Honestly, I'd bite him myself if I knew I wouldn't lose control, but I was too young to take the chance. I looked to Edward but he shook his head at me, he had never changed a vampire either.

"Charlie would angry if you went against his wishes, you know that." Fundamentally, I did know that, but I couldn't find it in me to care whether or not he'd be mad at me or Tanya, he was being stupid!

In desperation, I was about to take my chances but I heard footsteps approaching. I found it hard to believe that it had been an hour since Irina's call but there she stood with Demetri in tow. As soon as Edward said that he was a tracker, I immediately remembered James and I never had a doubt that he could find us. I stood with the intent of standing between Charlie and Demetri. Charlie might be giving up but I wouldn't and Tanya wouldn't.

"Hand over the human, Tanya. He has been privy to knowledge that he is not authorized to know. Charlie do you deny knowing that the Cullens and Denalis are vampires?" Demetri was holding a miniature trial and had worded it in such a way that even if he didn't know, he now would and would be assigned death.

"No, I-" Demetri cut him off.

"No further questions are needed then to determine the outcome of these proceedings. Irina, take care of the human."

Everything was happening so quickly, one minute the Volturi wasn't even here and the next he was formally charged and sentenced. Irina stepped forward and Charlie made to stand but Tanya kept him by her side there on the ground. I don't know what I was expecting but it dawned on me as I watched Irina's eye darken that she planned to administer death by drinking him. I was on my feet quickly and crouched between them.

"You may think you will kill my father, but he is not food and you will not drink from him. You will not receive pleasure from his death."

"I already have," she sneered. "His pending death pleases me greatly. I get the sickest pleasure from knowing that you can never forget his death. You really think you can take my mate and Tanya's? You are insignificant and the Volturi will find a way to banish you from this life as well. Move aside, little girl, you are standing in the way of justice."

Demetri came and grabbed her arm at the elbow, "That's enough, Laurent is not you mate and Edward is not Tanya's. This is obviously too personal for you to execute on your own. Stand down, you are sullying the name of the Volturi." His grip of her arm tightened when she hesitated but she eventually back down. It was easy to mistake his pride as a member of the Volturi Guard as compassion but I knew better.

"Now is the time to say your goodbyes while I deal with this behavior which is _out of line._" He spoke to the group but spat the last part at Irina who was now looking fearful.

I turned to Charlie and was ready to continue trying to talk him out of this but I heard Irina screaming from behind me.

"That is the punishment for your behavior. Next time it will be your head and only Aro will decide if it will be reattached. Put this back on," he tossed her arm that was torn from her elbow joint down back to her, "and don't say another word until we return to Volterra." Irina sat on the ground with her knees bent coaxing the elbow joint to knit back together as Demetri returned his focus to Charlie.

"I don't think she'll be a member of the guard for many years, this is not the first time she's had an outburst," Demetri said conversationally.

As Demetri approached I grew upset with myself that I let Irina's punishment distract me from my father. I was shaking, Demetri's movements looked fast even to me. Before I was fully aware, Charlie had closed his eyes and Demetri had reached his hand to the back of his neck.

"I'll be watching you from Heaven, Bella." As Charlie finished his last words, Demetri applied enough to pressure so that his neck snapped and his head now laid limp. His breathing halted and his heartbeat slowed to a dangerously low rhythm. I was completely numb by the single most horrific act I had ever witnessed but the activity around me didn't stop.

Edward roared to Demetri to leave at once and he complied, after all, he was done here. Edward clutched at his head and I wanted to protect him from the thoughts but I couldn't move, I was numb. If I could have moved I would have done what Tanya did. As soon as Demetri turned his back, Tanya pulled Charlie so that he was lying down and she began biting him. I could smell his blood but its scent did not bother me. This blood was not nourishment, it was a life fluid for Charlie. Tanya had bitten his neck, and his wrist but before she had a chance to move to his ankle, I heard his heart stop.

"NO! Please stay with me! I need you!" She screamed over and over. "You're the only person I've ever fallen in love with! How can you leave me? Please don't leave me. Please," she begged again and again. It was agonizing to hear.

She moved to his chest and began performing compressions, "Move," she commanded to her venom that sat stagnant in his veins, "It wont go, I can't make it go!" She kept her chest compressions steady but her hands shook. "It wont go!"

I still couldn't move, I could only sit there for that immeasurable amount of time while Tanya tried everything possible to make her venom course through his limp body, I had to look away from the blank expression in his eyes. She moved to bite him again but collapsed onto his chest. The venom would not take hold, Charlie would not live.

She just laid there clutching at him when all her efforts had been exhausted. After a while, Edward came and lifted her up off of him and put her in the car. She was too weak to put up too much of a fight. I took Tanya's place and curled up next to Charlie.

Edward crouched down next to me and he ran his fingers through my hair. I looked up at him for the first time since Demetri left, he looked visibly shaken.

"I'm going to take Tanya back to the house. You stay here, I'll come back." He kissed my forehead before he got up.

"Wait," I forced myself to get up, "take Charlie... back." It was hard to find my voice again, "I'll stay here with Tanya and take care of her." I was in no shape to be caring for another person, but I couldn't allow myself to worry about me right now, I couldn't fall apart.

"Please don't drive?" I nodded.

He picked up Charlie and gently cradled him in his arms and began his trip back to the house. I went to sit in the driver seat of the car next to Tanya. She was crying softly.

"Of all the times that you would tell me stories of when you grew up and stories with him in them, I never imagined that he would be so," a rough sob broke through her hardly composed features, "wonderful." Actually, most stories of my childhood I had to ask Laurent if I was right, he knew them better than I did now. She needed some sort of comfort and the console was in the way. I got out of the car and went around to the passenger side and pulled her out and pulled her into the backseat with me. We curled up together and grieved together. I wondered if I had said something aloud because she kept telling me that it wasn't my fault, that I did not kill him but I might never believe that.

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A/N: Kleenex, anyone? Lots of thanks to Chewie4370 for pre-reading this chapter. Challa, I really value your opinion!

Thanks for reading my story! Feel free to comment or PM to let me know what you're thinking.


	24. Sadness

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 24: Laurent- Sadness

I sprinted through the forest tasting each breath for a hint of a nearby animal. I loved to hunt with Jacob. Before, I feared losing control if I were to run into an human, but now with Jacob me I knew that he would stop me from doing anything I would regret. I could let myself go and enjoy the hunt. I kept running for miles although I smelled dear and even a some elk, but I wanted something more... tasty. I would wait for it, but it turned out that I wouldn't have to wait for long. The scent of a bobcat wafted through my senses. It was probably my favorite. I slowed my pace and sniffed the air again to get the direction.

Jacob stood by my side, his head was shoulder high to me. He bent his head down and licked my arm from wrist to elbow, a subtle reminded of where we left off. I smiled at him before I began tracking the scent. The warmth of the scent got closer and closer, the bobcat's heat and heartbeat called me in to the point where I couldn't stop. It was then, in my most instinctive moment that I felt this feeling that I couldn't quite describe. Something felt off, it was a bad feeling. It distracted me and I almost lost the scent of the animal that was calling to me. I'm sure I would have noticed it before by my boy clouding my senses.

I latched back onto the scent again and before I knew it I was upon the male bobcat. I dove towards him so that when I landed we tumbled ass over tea kettle. To be honest, I just enjoyed the look of confusion of the poor animals face. I suppose it was the same for me as that first bite into the soft skin of a human, a simple pleasure before the beginning of my feeding. I had begun to get used to the taste of animal blood enough to appreciate the taste of the soothing blood running down my throat. I pulled at the animal even after there was no blood left to consume.

If anyone other than Jacob had approached me in my current state, the outcome wouldn't be good but Jacob came and sat next to me where I was propped against the tree. I removed the animal from my teeth as I came back to reality.

"Better?" He asked.

I nodded.

"I know we talked about this, and I know that you wanted to go to La Push and see my family but I just keep getting this weird feeling-"

"-like something's not quite right?" I finished his sentence. "Me, too."

"I just feel like we should be going back, I know, I know... I'm human," he rolled his eyes, "-ish, _they want to suck my blood_," he said in his best Dracula impression, "but you know I can handle things. Please just think about it? I really think we should go back."

He really didn't have to say much to convince me, I was ready to turn around when he mentioned his funny feeling. I looked down at the animal wishing that he had a few more pints in him and realizing that it was a wish that was never be fulfilled, I set off to take care of the carcass.

"I agree," I told him as I scooted the bobcat's body into the grave that I'd quickly dug. As soon as I finished filling the hole, we started back.

~o~x~o~x~o~

I smelled the blood first. That metallic beacon that called to all vampires. I was immediately on alert and began to slow. Jacob phased back. I was the one thing I would change if I could; we couldn't talk when we was in wolf form.

When I was still, I could detect the faint scent of venom in the blood. It added a sweetness to the blood that had a hidden note of familiarity. I knew this blood and I knew this venom and I did not feel that they would be mixed, at least not yet. Tanya didn't normally have very deep feelings for her crushes and she had never changed a vampire that I knew of. I debated on whether I should mention it to Jacob or not. The treaty weighed heavily on my mind at the moment. Who would Jacob side with? Where did that leave me?

"Please wait for me here? I don't want the Volturi anywhere near you."

"Okay, I'm giving you five minutes. After that I'm coming."

"Fine." I looked and his and debated if I could get him to wait longer but decided to just go.

The house was pretty quiet as I approached, there was crying here and there. Alice mentioned that I was coming moments before I burst into the house. Everyone was huddled together on the couches. I knew something was wrong and their postures gave credence to my bad feeling. Mentally I ran a tally. Everyone was here except Irina, Demetri, Charlie, and Tanya.

"Where's Irina? What's going on?" I was going to ask about Tanya but I could hear her faint cries from upstairs.

Edward stood and Bella sat for a minute before she got up, too. "I just don't want to be alone," she said.

"Are you sure? I really think you should stay inside. I need to talk to Jacob. Emmett, come with me." She just nodded and sat in Emmett's place next to Rose.

The three of us went to where I left Jacob. He had only just started walking towards us.

I stood there feeling like the wind was knocked out of me as Edward relayed the events of the last few hours making sure to let me know that Irina left. I had sort of come to the conclusion that Charlie was undergoing a transformation and was shocked to hear of his death. I'm sure he sensed the anxiety in my thoughts of potentially having my boy so close to the Volturi. It had been a hell of a day.

"...And what I was curious about was how this affected the treaty," Edward finished. I looked at Emmett as I finally realized that he was there as kind of a reinforcement or help for Edward if Jacob said it would break the treaty.

"Charlie was like an uncle to me. I know from what you told us about the Volturi that it was a possibility," he said as a tear begged to be released from his eye. He was shaking and it was hard to tell if he was angry or just really emotional. I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around him and looked back at Edward.

"Can you give us a minute? I think we need some time to sort all this out." Jacob was breathing raggedly in my ear and I just need Edward to leave. Edward picked up on my thoughts and he and Emmett turned to go back to the house.

"God damn it!" He roared. "Everything in my gut tells me that the treaty is broken. A human is dead... and bitten," he added, "I am fighting so hard right now not to burst into a giant wolf right and rip every last one of them in there to shreds. Arrrgggghhhh! God damn it, I feel beaten!" He ran his hands through his growing hair and crouched down in the balls of his feet. I was torn and I didn't know where I should be, of course I loved Jacob but I wouldn't stand by as he gave orders to kill the people that were closest to me. They would never knowingly kill anyone and I knew it was not their choice.

"That's your family in there. I could never hurt them because it would hurt you. Hurting you goes against every instinct that I have. So, yes the treaty is broken, but I wont enforce it. I don't have the energy to fight. Not physically, but emotionally I can't do it."

I was rubbing his back waiting for him to come together again.

"I never thought." He shook his head. "It's still weird for me, sometimes at my lowest that a vampire is the one comforting me," he mumbled although I heard him clearly. For me, it was my greatest fear that one day, that fact that I was not a human would be too much for him. I feared that he would not be able to get over the fact that my heart did not beat.

More than anything I was afraid that one day he would choose to live his life the way it was intended and die and leave me here without him.

After a while we decided to go back to the house and tell them what Jacob decided regarding the treaty. The news was met with gratitude and we settled into the couch next to Edward and Bella where the family continued to grieve in silence.

I didn't know Charlie that well, but I grieved for Bella's loss and also Jacob's loss of a family friend. And although I loved that Bella thought of me as such a good friend, I was glad to see Bella finding comfort in Edward. It appeared that as Bella curled up to his side a sort of balance was seen between them. Bella fit perfectly in Edward's arms. I hated that she had to experience so much pain so close to her wedding. This was supposed to be the time she celebrated her new life; a life she was going to be able to share with her father because of her hard work and restraint. My boy wasn't any better and I could feel his pain radiate from him. With the loss of someone so close, I didn't need Edward's talent to know he was thinking about his own father he had been away from. I wanted to sooth away both of their pain but it had been so long since I felt a real lost. I just didn't know what to do.

By the next day the preparations were taken care of. An ornate casket was delivered from a company in Fairbanks early in the morning along with flowers and a stone that Rosalie offered to engrave by hand. A large grave was dug in the backyard. We talked about where Charlie would be buried but both Bella and Tanya wanted him close by so a spot was chosen by a tall oak tree.

The atmosphere after the ceremony and the days following were heavy with the remorse felt by all. The life that was always in Bella's eyes had faded as if it had never been there. Bella and Edward spent most of their time away from the house. She went every where he went and was never without touching him. Edward was keeping her together. While at his side she was not sobbing and she appeared as if one day she could possibly heal from all that she had been through in the past year. I couldn't help but feel jealousy towards Edward. I loved Bella, thanks to our adventure that led us to were we were today but she had Edward and I had Jacob and I was more than happy with my boy but I missed the closeness that Bella and I shared; lying together on the couch, hunting together, laughing at private jokes. All of those things were lost with the loss of Charlie and the constant need for Edward's presence. I wanted by best friend back. Edward and Bella's relationship growing was the best thing that could have happened to her, this is what she always wanted, but I didn't expect it would mean our relationship would fade. My inner thoughts on the matter was obviously noticed by more than just Edward's gift but to Jacob as well.

Jacob stood standing in the yard of the house staring into the forest, not really looking at anything. As I stood behind him I couldn't help but notice his tight muscles as they stretched across his back; his arms folded in front of his chest. His head hung when he heard me behind him but he did not speak to me at first. I could see the steam coming of his skin as his warm temperature mixed with the frosty Alaskan air. Maybe it was the imprint thing or just common sense but I knew that he wanted and needed to say something to me. Finally he did just that.

"You love Bella, don't you? You love her more than me." Jacob's words smacked me in the face harder than his hand ever could. I knew he was responding to my constant staring at Edward and Bella and the discomfort and envy that was rolling off me in their presence. His tone was of heavy with fear and pain.

I didn't know what to say at first. I was still trying to collect myself after his stinging words. I could feel the pain register deep into my chest.

"Jacob, I could never love anyone the way I love you. I do love Bella, but only as a best friend, the same way you love her." I began to walk closer to him. I needed to hold him in my arms. As I began to reach my hand to his shoulders from where I stood, he moved away, never turning to look at me. The pain in my chest returned.

"You don't have to lie to me. If you want her, I will leave. I will go back to La Push and I wont bother you."

That was all that I was able to take. The idea of no longer having his warm arms around me at night, not being able to watch him sleep, pressing his strong muscles into me as he made love to me. I couldn't imagine a day without him beside me. I wasn't going to live a day without him by my side.

"You. Aren't. Going. Anywhere." I forcibly turned Jacob around. His eyes still hadn't met mine. I had never been rough with my love but he had to understand. "Jacob Black, I love you and nothing is coming between us. If you leave, I am going with you. I care for Bella, but she can never take your place." My voice softened as I pulled his chin up to meet my eyes. My heart leapt when I could see my words had reached him.

We fell into a hurried kiss, pressing each other tighter into one another. I pulled Jacob into the lining forest. I needed to feel him closer to me. I need him to feel how much I loved him.

Jacob and I returned from our reaffirmations as the sun began to set. As we approached the house I saw Edward standing on the porch, without Bella. Where was she? She hadn't been out of his sight since the horrible day resulting in the loss of her father.

"She's with Tanya. They're reminiscing about Charlie. I wanted to speak to you," Edward answered my thoughts.

As we walked onto the porch Jacob gave me a knowing nod and pressed his lips to my cheek before walking in the house leaving me with Edward.

"Laurent, I know how you feel about Bella and I am sorry if you feel like I am taking away your best friend. I just want to see her whole again. I will never take her away from you." Edward's words were sincere.

"I know, Edward. I just have to get use to her coming to you for comfort, I guess I have grown to use to it being me during our travels. I promise I will control my thoughts and feelings."

Edward gave me a look of understanding.

Jacob and Bella came and joined us on the porch as Edward and I looked into the white mountain horizon. Bella pressed in the space between Edward and me wrapping her arm around Edward's waist and taking my left hand in hers. She gave me a knowing smile as she leaned her head on Edward's arm. Jacob stood at my right side pressing his warm hand on the small of my back.

The four of us stood without words.

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A/N: Big thanks to Chewie4370 for practically co-writing this chapter with me and virtually holding my hand as I worked through this.

Thanks for reading my story and saving this story to your 'favorites' and 'alerts' list! Feel free to comment or PM. Also, as Run With Me winds to a close, I have plans to continue writing more stories so I invite you to add me to you 'author alerts' if you're interested.


	25. Moving on

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 25: Edward- Moving on

_I can't believe she fell in love with him, of all the men... _Kate thought.

_I wonder what will happen to Charlie and Bella's house in Forks now? _Esme had wondered if Charlie had a will and who he might have left the house to.

_How can we explain Charlie's death and keep the attention away from the fact he came to Alaska right before he disappeared? _Carlisle worried about how things would look to the outside world.

As I took in the thoughts of those around me, I glanced down at this beautiful girl by my side. Silence. Even in the lowest of times, what I wouldn't give just to hear her. The thoughts inundated around me like a swirl of grief and darkness, this was why we were never in the house. And it wasn't like we buried Charlie yesterday, it had been a week and a half. Not that everyone should be over it by now, but the sad thoughts were repetitive and painful to hear .

_She doesn't need me anymore._

I almost dared to contradict him, to tell him; look at how the light has left her eyes. I was glad that we had our chat on the back porch a few days ago, I really needed him to know that I would not take her away, not like that. In the days after our talk, Laurent had been tossing a few ideas around his head. He was seriously considering going to La Push. He thought Jacob would want to live there to be closer to his father and friends especially after what just happened. But he also feared that living so close would attract the attention of the Volturi to Jacob's family and tribe. I think Jacob would be agreeable to going, he constantly worried about how he felt that he was shirking his duties as a wolf.

I looked at Emmett when his thoughts took me by surprise, I stifled a grin. Rosalie noticed my attention and thought _I swear if he's thinking about turning on the TV to watch football, I'll slap the shit out of him. _I shook my head. The funny thing was that he wanted to do something nice for Bella, but couldn't really think of anything appropriate. He thought about going and getting her a grizzly bear, but it made him feel like a caveman. The mental image of him in a loincloth saying 'ugg' caught my eye.

Alice's thoughts flipped between worrying about Jasper and thinking about a new wedding plans. She was moving forward with the vision she had of us on the beach. After a while she got up to search for Jasper.

"Alice," she turned to look at Eleazar as the vision of what he was about to say played in her mind, "family meeting in an hour, please bring Jasper."

She tapped her temple and said, "I know."

_We could be back in an hour... _At first glance, Jacob seemed unaffected by Charlie's death but deep down he was hurting but only put on a front to try to stay strong for Bella, not that she would have noticed. Effectively, he was self-medicating using Laurent's body. Laurent just thought it was his insecurities that made him so handsy-feely.

I would always wonder if I should one day just tell people what's really going on in each other's minds. Yes, Rosalie. Emmett was actually listening to you and not thinking about sports. No, Alice. Jasper would not go back to Maria if for some reason you died. It was the one thing, everyone was quick to make assumptions about what other's were thinking and on a good day, it was funny to sit back and watch.

But today was not a good day to sit back or watch as everyone was grieving.

An hour later Carlisle was standing before us with Eleazar there as support. Carlisle addressed us all.

"I know that everything that happened was really hard on all of us, especially Bella and Tanya. For me, it goes against everything I believe in to see a human die of such unnatural causes. Ever since I woke from the fire, I have made a conscious effort to protect the lives of humans. I have created a family that follows my beliefs of their volition. I have always impressed upon everyone the number rule, the ultimate law of our kind: keep the secret. This death was completely preventable and I think that we all can accept a little blame, we all played a part. I'm not saying this because I want to blame anyone, I'm saying this because we can learn from it in the future. Every single thing we do with humans must protect them from our reality. We must be conscientious about our strength and speed and our heightened senses. We are not gods and it is not our job to interfere in this human world.

"In the future, I propose that if there ever comes a time where people begin to notice things, or begin to speculate, we will move on immediately. We will not take chances and we will never let it get this far and NEVER again get to the point that the Volturi are forced to intervene."

Truthfully it wasn't anything new and it wasn't anything we hadn't heard before but before it felt like a theoretical knowledge. Now, all hearts in the room felt it. Tanya and Kate did know this, to keep the secret, as practical knowledge. They lost their mother over keeping the secret, of course it wasn't at all their faults then; the never knew of their mother's sin until it was too late. What Tanya and Kate knew, we all now knew. We had all now lost someone due to living this life as a vampire. And so, the message hit home like never before.

Especially for me, not only had I told Charlie, I had been the one to tell Bella. It was at that moment that I realized that I could have just as easily and quickly lost Bella and not only that, I left her alone as I ran away from her to save her. I pulled her a little closer as I was very thankful that she was still here with me.

Eleazar had contemplated all day on whether or not to add to Carlisle's words. He wanted to suggest a self-imposed punishment of a period of starvation. A penance of sorts. But for now, he felt his words would be too harsh.

Around the room everyone reflected on where they would go from here. The Cullens would not return to Forks, probably not for another century and Carlisle was inclined to return to Ithaca although we had been away for the better part of a year now. Carlisle spoke softly to Esme about when they might return.

Esme only worried about where Bella and I would go. That I didn't know, but I did know that Laurent and Jacob would likely return to La Push for a while and Bella would like to be nearby.

"Bella, how would you feel about moving to somewhere in the Olympic Peninsula? So that you can be near Laurent. There's Port Angeles, Sequim, Hoquiam, or we could live in a larger town like Olympia, what do you think?"

"I really don't know, do you think I can handle living in a larger town with all those humans around?"

"Yes, I really think you could."

~o~x~o~x~o~

R~W~M

~o~x~o~x~o~

Laurent

I didn't have anything other than some clothes and my boy. So it was the only things I took with my as I moved into Bella's old house. The house was left to Bella but as you can imagine there was a bit of bait and switch to actually get the house to Bella.

Jasper paid a visit to the family's forger in Seattle and arrangements were made so that the will was changed so that the house was left to a fictitious il legitimate child. When Bella was out looking in a book shop, she found a young woman on a street corner dressed provocatively, she looked as if she could be a sibling to Bella and was paid a rather large amount to show up at the court house to claim the house and then she signed to house over to Bella as discussed . Bella took a liking to the girl , Bree was her name. She only said that she felt a strange connection to her that she couldn't describe. Bree said one time that Bella saved her life by hiring her, she was able to take the money and continue her education. Bree had been kicked out of her house by her mother just a year prior and was about to resort to more unsavory ways of making money when Bella approached her shortly before hiring her to help. Bella could only laugh, "More unsavory than impersonating a false identity, perjury and basically committing fraud?"

So when the house was finally in Bella's name, she offered it to Jacob and me to live in while she and Edward moved to Olympia. They actually planned to move to Sequim as Bella feared living amongst so many humans, but after she met Bree she changed her mind so that she could be closer to keep an eye on her. Their relationship started as more of a protector and protected, but morphed to being good friends.

Bella and I continued to hunt together but not for the original reasons; now it was the only time we saw each other. I took a job at the hospital as a translator. I didn't spend a lot of time there so the blood didn't bother me much, I only came in if they needed me. In my free time I studied other languages and added them to my list of spoken languages at the hospital. Jacob (and his father) taught me the language of the Quileutes, which was my favorite except for when they laughed at my accent. Jacob returned to school on the reservation and returned to his schedule of running with the pack.

Jacob was out of patrol tonight so I planned on meeting up with Bella at our usual spot half way between Forks and Olympia.

When I got there she wasn't anywhere in sight but I could smell her floral scent. A minute later I heard her quietly giggling and I looked up to find her sitting high in the branches of a tree. I scaled the tree and joined her at the top and smiled because it was something that we hadn't done in a while.

"Remember when you were little and one day you came home after school and overheard your mother on the phone telling someone that she was fired?"

"No, I don't remember. What happened next?" She asked with a smile.

"You cried and ran into the kitchen where she was sitting at the table with the phone to her ear. Renee hung up and tried to dry your tears assuring you she would find another job and everything would be alright but you were still upset and finally you told her that it wasn't because she lost her job, it was because she was 'fired', 'mama,' you cried, 'I don't like the idea of people setting you on fire.'" We shared a laugh.

"Do you know how old I was?"

"No, you didn't say. Sometimes in your stories you can be so naive, and in others you are so wise."

We didn't really plan to hunt that night, so we stayed in that tree and just caught up.

"I talked to Edward about me finishing school and he doesn't think I should worry about it for now, after all, as he said, there will be plenty of time the in the future to spend in high school."

"So what are you going to do with your time?"

"I think I'm going to be a stay at home wife for a while."

"A wife, huh?"

"Well... Did you know that Carlisle bought Esme a whole island off the coast of Brazil?" She asked but didn't wait for me to answer to continue, "Anyways, Alice has been planning a wedding ceremony there and, of course, you and Jacob are invited but I wanted to ask you something."

"Anything," I answered easily.

"I don't know why but I feel nervous asking you," she took a deep breath. "Will you give me away?"

For a moment, I searched her but decided not to ask why she was nervous. "Of course." Maybe it was just wedding nerves.

"Thank you," she said sincerely.

"So, when is it?"

"In a month. We're going to head down there in another two weeks to just relax on the beach. You guys can come early, too, if you'd like."

"We'll be there."

"Hey, let's go to that tree over there," she said as she pointed to a taller tree in the distance.

We spent the rest of the night leaping to the next taller tree and talking about a whole lot of nothing.

ooooo

A/N: Big thanks to Chewie4370 for pre-reading this chapter for me. The way I see it, when Bella left Forks, Laurent nipped the newborn army in the bud before it really even had a chance to get started. The army never made it Seattle and Bree was never targeted, viola! In a roundabout way, Bella saves Bree and will never even know, only that she feels a strange connection to her that she can't describe.

The epilogue is most of the way written and will be posted soon, but there's still time to change and add things. I know when I finish a story and the epilogue leaves me wondering, I wish I could just ask the author ...what about this or that part? And often I do. So here's you chance to get involved: What are your questions? What loose ends would you like to see tied up? If you get your requests in by 9/3/10, I will try my best to be accommodating.

Thanks for reading my story and saving this story to your 'favorites' and 'alerts' list! Feel free to comment or PM. Also, as Run With Me winds to a close, I have plans to continue writing more stories so I invite you to add me to you 'author alerts' if you're interested.


	26. Epilogue

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

ooooo

Epilogue- Laurent

After arriving in Forks with my boy, we had a meeting with his pack to revise the treaty. The revision to the treaty made me the only vampire that was ever allowed on their land. The decision to let me come and go on their land came easy, the fuss came when an agreement couldn't be reached on where on the reservation I could go and if I'd need some sort of escort. Jacob, of course, rallied behind me, stating that I would never be with out him therefore no additional arrangement was needed. I was surprised however to see that Billy, Jacob's father, was a big, if not bigger supporter. Billy, who was greatly respect, put his foot down after about twenty minutes of heated debate.

He said, "This great man, my own son's imprint, will not be disrespected any longer. Our legends prophesized of his arrival and you fools wont even let him walk across our land without attacking him. You should be ashamed our yourselves."

I heard all the legends. Billy was thrilled to tell them to me because of my perfect memory; he said the legends would live on forever.

To be honest, it was a little disturbing to me that the wolf pack killed any vampire that crossed into their land without asking questions or offering to let them leave peacefully. I had been too close to those crosshairs myself. It was this that I endeavored to change although I knew the reasons why it likely wouldn't work. Feeling a little special, after hearing Billy's support of me, I asked if I could suggest something.

"Is there any way that we can show discretion when you guys are out there mindlessly killing any vampire in your path?" It doesn't come out well, and I can hear it in my voice the influence of being around my boy so much. I sounded younger than I've felt in a long time, I even sounded a touch naive.

"Laurent," Jacob's dad turned to me, "I understand your discomfort, but we cannot take the risk of not patrolling in wolf form, and we can't speak while we are in it. I know, It's quite a predicament." Billy's brow frowned, a characteristic I recognized as I grew to know him more; it was a sign of him being in deep thought. "How about this, we will pause for any vampire with gold eyes."

I nodded and hesitantly asked the question that had been on my mind since Jacob informed me of the purpose of this meeting. "Can I go on patrol, too?"

Billy's eyes teared up, "Would you really do that for our tribe? You want to protect us, too?"

Jacob was shocked at my request as well, I never mentioned the idea to him. His tears ran down his russet skin as he lifted his head high, proud to be holding my hand. Almost immediately, the pack was warmed to me as if they were waiting for this show of loyalty.

"This is my family now," I said in Quileute.

"And you are a part of this tribe," Billy declared officially, "and you will walk across our land as if it is your own, because it is now."

One of the wolves suggested that they all be allowed to smell me, catch my scent, so that they didn't accidentally attack me while on patrol. In theory, I was all for it, but when the wolves lined up to take their turns I was suddenly aware of how Bella felt that day we ran into the wolves returning to Forks. The collective scent of the pack suddenly made me panic a little. I wasn't sure why it alarmed me as I had been back and forth on the reservation for weeks now and should have grown use to the presence of my once enemies. As always, my boy was there placing his hot hand on my shoulder and the other on the small of my back.

"I could never let them hurt you," he whispered in my ear as his brothers passed by me. I leaned back into him and comforted myself in his body heat as the wolf pack, one by one, put their noses near my outstretched hand.

I thought about how we often switched roles between who comforted whom. Today he stood beside me proudly, protecting me from nothing to be honest, and I knew that, but tomorrow it would be me comforting him as we attended the memorial that the town was throwing in Charlie's memory.

~o~x~o~x~o~

Jacob and I debated on which room we should take in the two bedroom house. What if Bella came to visit? We scratched taking her room, but the idea of taking Charlie's was uncomfortable. We had been sleeping on the pull out couch, well my boy slept and I held him and dreamt of our future together. Alice suggested re-doing the house so that it didn't feel like we were living amongst ghosts; avoiding rooms and certain pieces of furniture (we couldn't bring ourselves to set in Charlie's chair either). Bella agreed and gave us carte blanche, whatever we wanted, she said.

Alice and Jasper moved to Seattle and enrolled in the college. In her free time from classes and planning the wedding, Alice spent an exorbitant amount of time on the phone with me talking about color schemes.

The first thing we ordered was a sturdy California king sized wrought iron bed frame with one of those wonderful memory foam mattresses. I realized that it's the first bed I had ever bought. I was reminded me of the bed I had as a human, it was actually made of straw and had to be fluffed and flipped. Only Carlisle and Jasper could commiserate with me. All of us were thankful that we couldn't quite remember.

The new bed hadn't arrived yet so I laid there on the pull out couch with my boy snuggled in my arms. If it was possible, his body temperature raised a degree or two at night. I pulled his body closer as his skin scorched me in the most innocent way and waited for the morning to interrupt our peace.

~o~x~o~x~o~

"Wake up," I seductively whispered in his ear.

Jacob grumbled, rolled over and buried his head in the pillow.

"Do you want me to make breakfast while you lay in bed and ignore me?" I said good-naturedly.

"Mmm," he grumbled; he wasn't a morning person. I leaned down and ran my tongue over the shell of his ear and pulled the lobe into my mouth careful not to touch him with my teeth. He grumbled again, I knew what he would say; I don't fight fair.

"I know," I said softly after a few minutes. I knew by then he was awake, but was hiding from the world and the memorial service that morning. Jacob took Charlie's death as hard as Bella and I knew that my boy was saddened with the fact that she wouldn't be there to honor her father. It was emotionally trying to know how Charlie truly died, the true cost of his life especially when the good citizens of Forks believed that he died in a horrific car accident.

At least Emmett had fun destroying one of the cars in Denali, after all he flew there. Rosalie cried at the loss of a good machine but it was necessary.

We dressed in our suits after Jacob finished his breakfast and we were out the door half an hour after Jacob peeled himself out of bed. We made or way to the church where the memorial was being held.

As I stepped out of the car I smelled Bella's scent, but didn't see her anywhere. Jacob noticed it as well as we eyed each other questionably, both looking around and ahead of us for her presence.

"I'm up in the tree," she said with melancholy in her voice. Both Jacob and I glanced up and saw her perched in the top of the tree the overlooked the church's walkway. "Actually, I think I'm going to go."

I looked up and she was gone, I debated on whether should find her but decided that it would only play into my boy's insecurities. Jacob and I were stronger since our return from Alaska, and Jacob understood Bella to be my best friend, but I tried to keep as many questionable instances out of our relationship as possible. I stayed with him and hoped that where ever Bella went, that she would go to Edward.

The memorial was emotional as expected, Charlie was loved by the community and they were shocked by his death but did not suspect any foul play. The town believed that Bella had died and that Charlie was with her now. I was glad that Bella left, this would have been too much for her. Jacob sat stoically by my side until he could no longer hold back. He dropped his head into his hands and sobbed. I slipped my arms over his back and rubbed his shoulders. I was surprised and touched by the level of acceptance this small town had for our relationship. If they only knew...

~o~x~o~x~o~

A few days after the memorial service we flew out to meet the rest of the Cullens for Bella and Edward's wedding. Isle Esme was breathtaking and completely relaxing to all of us after everything we'd been through. Carlisle and Esme flew in from Ithaca, where they went back to live. Rose and Emmett decided to go back to Ithaca with them as well but lived in their house as 'newlyweds'. Carlisle returned to his job at the hospital and they were trying to settle into a normal rhythm but missed having 'the children' in the house.

The Cullens had decided that in time they would all join again, and would move to the same town when it was time to move in a decade or so. While Jacob and I were undoubtedly considered apart of the family, we decided that we would not be joining them. With Jacob's eventual leadership role in the tribe, he worried about living far away. He wrestled with the idea of permanently relinquishing his birthright to lead the pack, and therefore the tribe. I told him that we would stay in Forks and La Push as long as he needed to and if the Cullens really regarded us as family, they would visit; and of course they would.

Everyone was already there on Isle Esme; we were the last to arrive. The Denali's were invited as well; Carmen, Eleazar, and Kate came, but Tanya said she couldn't bear to leave Alaska, not yet. Tanya's absence was a reminder of the reason that such a special occasion had to be delayed in the first place.

The days between when we arrived and the wedding passed quickly and before it even seemed possible, we were all getting ready for the ceremony. Earlier that day, everything was set according to Alice's vision. Four white chairs on either side of the aisle. Eleazar, Carmen, Kate and Jacob would sit on the left, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Jasper would sit on the right.

Everyone had made their way down to the water as the sun was setting. Alice stepped out of the room where Bella was getting ready and joined Edward by his side as his "best man" at the make-shift alter where Emmett, the master of the ceremony, also stood. The ceremony was only waiting on Bella and me. Bella stepped out of the room and smiled shyly.

Bella wore a knee length empire waist strapless white dress with half her hair pulled into a high bun and the other half flowing down her back. Bella chose not to wear a veil; one of many traditions she rejected and argued with Alice over. The rest of the women were dressed similarly to each other, distinguished only by variation in colors. Edward wore light khaki shorts and a white button up shirt and us guys followed suit. Everyone was barefoot on Bella's insistence. The bride carried no bouquet, she said she didn't need one. Bella was set on a more casual theme, after all it was a beach wedding, and I was inclined to agree with her. About the only thing that stayed as Alice had planned it were in fact the chairs and the satin ribbons that were tied to them. The ceremony was stripped of everything except people and feelings, anything else was too much.

I held my arm out and she cautiously took it.

"You're my very best friend," Bella said with such feeling, "Thank you so much for everything. I wouldn't have Edward today if it were not for you."

"It's nothing at all, it's me who should be thankful to you." Bella and I shared a smile as we both attempted to hold back tears. "Ready?"

She only nodded and we began to walk towards where Edward and Emmett waited for us. The music that we marched to was the sound of the waves and the birds singing. Before we even knew it I was placing her small hand into Edward's and taking my place by her side as her "maid of honor." Nothing was as it should have been for this union; Bella would have had it no other way.

"Now it's time for Bella and Edward to exchange their vows," Emmett declared after a short and to the point intro. "Edward?"

Edward gathered her hands and placed them over his heart and began, "My life was altered the day you walked into my life, Isabella Swan. I never wanted something so bad in my hundred plus years. While at first all I truly wanted was your blood, I soon realized I needed something so much more important and special, your heart. I apologize to you Isabella for the rash decision I made but I can not say I regret it. Because of my decision to leave you, to protect you, you stand before me the most radiant creature I have ever seen, yet your heart remains unchanged. I am in debt to the man who comforted you in his attempt to rejoin us. He saw our love, our possibilities even when I could not. I will never question how much you love me or how much I love you. I give myself to you wholly and with no hesitation. I am proud to be the man to hold your hand for eternity. I love you Isabella. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to prove that to you again." He pulled her hands up to kiss them and was positively beaming.

"Bella?" Emmett prompted.

She nodded her head but didn't speak.

The silence was unexpected; everyone looked around anxiously waiting to hear Bella's heart felt words but they never came. Suddenly Edward's eyes grew big as he looked into Bella's eyes in complete awe.

As it turned out, Bella had been working very hard on her shield for just this purpose. It was the first time she ever let Edward into her mind and she recited her vows to him in a way that offered him more than just loving words and tearless sobs. Bella gave Edward the gift of truly knowing her, for the first time.

"Alrighty then!" Emmett said when he couldn't think of anything else to say.

The beaming couple exchanged rings without incident and shared their first kiss as husband and wife in front of a few of the people who held them dear.

Hugs and congratulations were hurried as Alice shooed us all from the island shortly after the ceremony. I could almost hear Bella's sigh of relief. I wasn't sure if it was the idea of spending her first night as a wife out of ear shot of her family or that she was finally joined with the love of her life without some horrific incident to loom over the day.

Whatever the reason was, I was happy for Bella and Edward. Though I left my best friend on the island, I knew I was leaving her in capable, loving hands; I was losing nothing.

I had my boy, Jacob, to run with me.

ooooo

A/N: Firstly, thanks a bunch load to Chewie4370 (btw, have you read her stuff yet?) for not only pre-reading, but actually beat-ing this time. Y'all should really be thankful of her, I know I am! Secondly, I really want to hear what you thought about Run With Me, especially those of you that have been reading this whole time and haven't said a word (yeah, I know about you). Here's the way I feel about reviews and begging for them: I think the story should beg for the reviews, not the author. I think that the content of a story should be compelling enough to make the reader want to click the little review button.

Alright, now here are a few recommendation for you to busy yourselves with: (you can find them all on my favorites list)

Harvest Moon by Content1- if you haven't read it yet, you need to. I am a big a supporter of this story and I think that any true Twilight fan should read it. It's a post Breaking Dawn Canon. The official summary - "What happens to the Cullen family after the Volturi left. Edward and Bella begin life together and face heartbreak and joy after their lives are irrevocably changed by both joy and loss. 2010 Summer Shimmer Awards - Pawn Award Winner. Edward POV"

So, even if you ignore every word I've ever written, go read Harvest Moon. Now, I don't know what prompted you read Run With Me, but for me it was about writing an alternate pairing story, (even if it wasn't a romance). So my other two story rec's are alternate pairing stories that I thought were excellent.

Love In The Mirror Room by forbiddenkisses- it's a BellaxJames story for all you James' Coven fans, the official summary- "What if, on that fateful day in the ballet studio, James and Bella had realized they were intrigued by and attracted to one another? Is it Stockholm or destiny? What would Edward do if he could find no traces of either of them when he got to the studio?" The great thing about the story? It doesn't turn Edward into some evil douchward (like what happens in, like, every story that she doesn't end up with him) in order for her to love James anyways.

Time Will Tell by December Jinx- this one's a BellaxEmmett and it's awesome and it makes me want an Emmett of my own, 'nuff said. Official summary-"The Cullens left Bella, but she holds herself together. Jasper returns to her, asking for forgiveness and her help. Alice is not well, and he needs Bella to go back in time with him to help her. Will Bella find love with a different Cullen? B/Em, J/A, E/R" Now that all is said and done , I'm tapping into my inner hypocrite to say please review!


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